Two in police custody for attempted murder of three officers
LANDOVER: Two men who authorities say shot at Prince George’s County police in a Landover, Maryland, neighbourhood are in police custody and accused of attempted murder and assault as investigators continue to piece together what precipitated an exchange of gunfire that left bullet holes in homes, blood in the street and three officers wounded.
Steven Maurice Warren, 27, has been formally charged and is in custody at the county jail, officials said at a news conference.
The second man, Andre Larnell Smith, 45, was injured while fleeing the scene and is being treated at a hospital.
A warrant for his arrest has been issued.
Two of the injured officers had been released from the hospital as of Monday evening, interim county police chief Hector Velez said during the news conference.
The third officer underwent a successful surgery and remained hospitalised, Velez said.
“It is really just nothing but the grace of God that allowed these three officers to live through this incident, as well as the two that have been charged,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said during the news conference.
Capitol View Mutual Homes, the co-op of 120 homes where the gun battle broke out after officers responded to a call about a home invasion, still showed signs Monday of the chaotic few minutes that overtook the usually quiet, tree-shaded neighbourhood and left residents rattled.
Shattered glass littered the road beside patches of dried blood, and residents wandered outside to assess the damage to their homes.
“I cannot believe this,” site manager Tammy Nimmons said as she inspected a window pierced by a bullet.
In the three years she has overseen the co-op, Nimmons said there has never been a shooting.
She was in shock, she said, when she learned what played out Sunday night – and said she thinks the men who fired at the police are not members of her community.
“When I tell you everyone gets along, everyone gets along,” Nimmons said.
Chaos erupted just after 6.30pm.
Sunday, when a woman in the neighbourhood called 911 to report a home invasion, according to charging documents.
The first officer on the scene saw a vehicle parked on the road and two men walking toward it, so he got out of his car and “engaged those individuals in conversation,” Velez said in the news conference. — The Washington Post