Man arrested while at vigil for holiday shooting
While attending a vigil Sunday afternoon for the Thanksgiving Day triple shooting in Meade Village, Anne Arundel County police officers heard gunfire and arrested a man nearby, the department said.
Marc Limansky, a police department spokesperson, said there’s no clear nexus between the gunshots Sunday and the shooting that left 20-year-old Louis Guy Newman III dead, critically injured a 30-year-old man and injured a 29-year-old man.
“Connection to the homicide has not been ruled out. But right now there’s no indication definitively leading detectives to believe it’s related,” he said.
Regardless, the gunshots marked the second arrest and set of gun charges that occurred during the fallout from a community football game that resulted in deadly gunfire.
The police department has dubbed the violent event a “holiday tragedy” and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.
Community members hosted a vigil for Newman and the other shooting victims Sunday, the police department said.
Police said officers attending the vigil heard gunshots at about 3 p.m. and sprinted toward the sound.
In the 1600 block of Meade Village Circle, Limansky said, officers saw a man firing a gun into the air. They ordered the man put the gun down and he complied.
Limansky said nobody was injured. Police arrested Mark Anthony Artison and confiscated a .32 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. He was charged with a range of offenses, including reckless endangerment, possessing a firearm despite having been convicted of a felony and misdemeanor assault, according to online court records. The 30-year-old also faces charges related to drug possession and having a firearm along with drugs.
Limansky said officers reported Artison appeared to be under the influence of some type of narcotic.
Artison, who is being held without bond pending a bail review hearing Monday, is being represented by the public defender’s office. An attorney there could not immediately be reached.
When scores of officers rushed to the scene of the shooting in Severn on Thanksgiving, police said they noticed a man running away.
The fatal shooting occurred around 2 p.m. on a field between sets of basketball courts in Meade Village. Police said the customary Thanksgiving football game pitted two neighborhoods against each other. As the game concluded, an altercation occurred. It escalated quickly, erupting in gunfire.
Police said the man they saw running away from the neighborhood was grabbing his waist band or sweatshirt, as if to conceal a handgun. Officers caught up to Keith Irving Brown Eldridge in the 1100 block of Reece Road.
After detaining the 19-year-old, police said officers and a police dog searched the area and found a handgun “along the path (Brown Eldridge) fled.” He was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, along with failing to obey officers, online court records show.
Brown Eldridge is not charged with any violent offenses, though police said detectives will continue to look into whether he had a hand in the shooting. He is being held without bond pending a bail review hearing. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
The police department encourages anyone with information about the shooting call homicide detectives at 410-222-4731.
Someone who wants to provide information but wishes to remain anonymous can do so by calling the county’s tip line at 410-222-4700 orby dialing1-866-7LOCKUP to leave a tip with Metro Crime Stoppers.