Elkton woman allegedly runs over teenager outside store

Aberdeen police say an Elkton woman was charged with attempted second-degree murder after she allegedly tried to run over a teenage employee of a convenience store Sunday morning.

Police said that officers were called to the 700 block of S. Philadelphia Blvd. around 9:30 a.m. Sunday for a report of a person hit by a car and found a 17-year-old female suffering from injuries.

She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and underwent surgery Tuesday with injuries not considered life-threatening, according to a police spokesman.

Police said the victim, a store employee, had gotten into an argument with a woman.

Outside the store, the driver of a white vehicle allegedly drove toward the employee, who jumped into the hood of the car, police said. She struck the vehicle’s windshield and fell to the ground, at which time the driver allegedly drove forward again over the victim, police said.

Police said the driver left the scene but later returned. Police said the vehicle had damage to its hood and windshield.

Shyria Nicole Watson, 21, who has addresses in Elkton and in Newark, Del., was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment, police said.

Aberdeen Police Lt. Will Reiber said Tuesday that officers believe Watson and the employee “had some kind of knowledge of each other.” He said that police responded to the same store in July when Watson and the same employee also got into an argument.

At a hearing in District Court in Bel Air on Tuesday afternoon, Judge Susan Hazlett ordered Watson held without bail.

Watson’s public defender, Carmen Hogan, said her client has a 10th-grade education and is unemployed but currently seeking work. Hogan said Watson has one prior arrest but no criminal convictions, and asked the judge to reduce the initial $75,000 bail set when Watson was booked into jail.

But Hazlett, citing “the very serious nature of the charges,” rejected bail, saying she believes Watson is a danger to the public and possibly the victim.

Watson, who appeared via video link from the county jail, declined to comment when the judge asked if she wanted to say anything regarding her bail.