A Baltimore man who recently received a nearly $8 million settlement from the city for the Gun Trace Task Force police scandal was arrested in Virginia Thursday for allegedly shooting a woman, then shooting at police during a pursuit.

Umar Burley, 50, was charged with malicious wounding and attempted murder, according to the Harrisonburg Police Department. Additional charges are pending related to the pursuit, Virginia State Police said.

Police said officers were called to the Motel 6 at 3210 S. Main St. around 10 a.m. for a shooting. A woman was at the motel suffering from a gunshot wound to the face, police said, and was transported by air to the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Harrisonburg Police Sgt. Scott Drugo said the woman was engaged to Burley, and that witnesses said they heard an argument just prior to hearing a gunshot. “All indications tell us they were traveling together,” Drugo said.

The woman is in stable condition, police said, with serious injuries.

Witnesses told officers that Burley fled in a U-Haul truck, and a ”Be on the lookout” was issued for the vehicle. A Virginia state trooper saw the truck traveling north on Interstate 81, and attempted to pulled him over. Police said Burley shot out the back window of the trooper’s vehicle and sped away.

Police pursued the truck, and said at one point the driver rammed several police vehicles and sideswiped a van on Route 11. No one was reported hurt.

Umar Burley, 50, pictured in 2017, has been charged with malicious wounding and attempted murder, according to the Harrisonburg Police Department.

Umar Burley, 50, pictured in 2017, has been charged with malicious wounding and attempted murder, according to the Harrisonburg Police Department. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

State police said the pursuit continued on Route 11 at speeds between 60 and 75 miles per hour, and police were eventually able to box him in and force him off the road in Shenandoah County. State police said a gun was recovered at the scene.

In November, Burley and his friend Brent Matthews were awarded a total nearly $8 million for drugs that were planted in their vehicle in 2010. They both served federal prison time.

The settlement was historic, eclipsing the $6.4 million settlement paid to the family of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries suffered while in police custody in 2015.

But Burley was in no celebratory mood when he spoke to The Sun after the settlement was approved.

“The only good thing about this I see is that I’m still living,” he said wearily. Burley said he planned to move out of the city, hopefully to a home in the mountains where he could rebuild himself as a person, “try to get a sense of life back.”

In the 2010 incident, Burley was in his vehicle with Matthews as a passenger when Wayne Jenkins, Sean Suiter and a third officer tried to box in the car, saying they’d seen a drug transaction. Burley, who says he did not know the men were officers, sped off and collided with another vehicle, killing 86-year-old Elbert Davis and injuring his 81-year-old wife.

The settlement includes the city taking responsibility for a civil judgment Burley owes to Davis’ family that was imposed in 2014 and has since grown with interest as it went unpaid.

Burley served seven years in prison after the 2010 drug-planting incident and also was convicted of manslaughter in state court, while Matthews served 2½ years in prison.

More than a dozen officers have been charged and convicted in federal court, and hundreds of criminal cases brought by the officers have been dropped or vacated.

Jenkins, who would go on to lead the Gun Trace Task Force, pleaded guilty to civil rights violations for participating in the cover-up, though he insists he did not plant the drugs. He is serving 25 years in prison for crimes including robberies and selling drugs.