ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ)– One woman is dead, another in critical condition after being shot inside the office of a Howard County church. Police are now trying to put the pieces together.

Monique Griego has the very latest.

Police are still investigating and trying to sort out the evidence. Meantime, Ellicott City residents are stunned.

Horrific acts of violence happen in one of the most unlikely of places.

Howard County Police say around 5:20 p.m. Thursday, two women were shot inside St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in the 3600-block of Rogers Avenue in Ellicott City.

“We had a custodian call 911. He was in the building cleaning when he came upon the office, saw the two women and called immediately,” Sherry Llewellyn, spokesperson for the Howard County Police Department, said.

Police say the surviving victim was taken to Shock Trauma in very critical condition.

While a Maryland State Police Medevac searched above, on the ground a SWAT team– unsure of the shooter’s location– searched the church building and scoured the area.

A short time later, they found a man dead in the woods near the church.

He had an apparent gunshot wound. They also found a gun, though police were trying to determine if he was in fact the church shooter.

“Certainly, thoughts and prayers go out to the victims’ families,” Andrea Mandato, an Ellicott City resident, said. “But very troubling and shocking to hear that it would happen so close to home.”

Ellicott City residents were stunned to hear the news of a shooting inside a church. Those WJZ spoke with were anxious to hear the news of what happened and why.

“It’s very troubling. Just, you hear about this kind of stuff but never think that. I don’t know, it’s just really weird,” Kelly Shaw, a resident of Ellicott City, said.

“At this point, we’re still working to determine who the man in the woods might have been. But we certainly are looking into the possibility that this might be related,” Llewellyn said.

Howard County Police have not identified the women nor the man found. They’re still trying to determine the women’s connection to the church and whether the man found shot them before apparently killing himself.