Less than 24 hours after a mass shooting and fiery crash near a Towson-area funeral home wounded nine people and killed a man, more gunfire broke out just two miles down Loch Raven Boulevard, according to court records.
No one was reported injured from the gunfire at about 2 p.m. Wednesday near Glenbarr Court and Wycombe Way in Parkville, according to police. Witnesses told investigators that the exchange appeared to involve a motorist who fired at a group of people, mostly teenagers, detectives wrote in charging documents filed Thursday against two 19-year-olds who were ultimately arrested on gun charges. Police found 17 shell casings at the scene. The person who fired from the vehicle, described as a gray coupe, was not identified.
A Baltimore County Police spokesperson said late Thursday afternoon that detectives do not believe Wednesday “shots-fired incident” was related to Tuesday’s mass shooting and crash outside the funeral home, where police say the 10 people injured were in the same minivan when gunfire broke out near the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard. That shooting shocked local leaders, who noted that Baltimore County rarely sees acts of mass violence, and traumatized residents of Parkville’s Oakleigh community, colloquially referred to as “The Oaks.”
The news of Wednesday’s shooting, which broke out shortly after the conclusion of a police news conference about the previous night’s shooting, was much more muted. Police department spokespeople were tight-lipped throughout Wednesday and most of Thursday when asked about the exchange of gunfire, referring reporters to a post on the department’s social media accounts.
The brief post described the exchange as a “shots fired call” and noted that no victims had been located. Police later added a reply on X, formerly Twitter, that four persons of interest had been detained in connection with the call. A spokesperson said Thursday afternoon that the investigation was still a “very active and fluid situation.”
Court filings charging two 19-year-old suspects with misdemeanor firearms offenses say that five people — three 19-year-olds, one 18-year-old, and a 33-year-old — were apprehended near the scene after initially fleeing into a nearby apartment. Police spotted the four teenagers crawling out of an apartment’s ground-floor window, while the eldest of the group retreated and exited through a door.
A woman living in the apartment told investigators that she had allowed the group into her home after they knocked on her door and asked to use her bathroom. Police found two guns, a Glock handgun and a Polymer80 “ghost gun” with no serial number, stashed in her toilet tank, investigators wrote.
It’s not entirely clear why only two of the teens are facing charges, though witnesses — whose names were withheld — told investigators that those two used the firearms to shoot at the person driving. The two 19-year-olds were ordered to remain held without bail in the Baltimore County Detention Center. Neither had defense attorneys listed in online court records.
Police did not reveal many updates on Thursday regarding their investigation of the mass shooting earlier in the week, where no charges had been announced and no suspect information had been released. The county’s police chief, Robert McCullough, said Wednesday that the gunfire erupted Tuesday evening as a minivan traveled on White Oak Avenue toward Loch Raven Boulevard, causing the vehicle to overturn and catch fire next to a funeral home. Most of the victims, ages 14 to 27, suffered gunshot wounds.
One of the victims, Charles Graham Jr., 26, of Baltimore, died at the scene.
Police have not yet determined if Tuesday’s violence was related to another homicide that happened nearby on Dec. 9. However, McCullough noted Wednesday that the victims in the minivan may have known 19-year-old Andrew Blessing, the teenager who was shot dead earlier this month on the 900 block of Beaverbank Circle.
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