Injured Baltimore County detective departs rehab

Release comes a month after police say he was shot by a Cockeysville man

A Baltimore County Police detective left an orthopedic rehabilitation center Tuesday afternoon, a month after police say he was shot by a Cockeysville man who led authorities on a nearly two-day search through two counties.

On Monday a Baltimore County grand jury indicted David Linthicum, 24, with multiple counts of attempted murder in the shooting of Baltimore County Police Detective Jonathan Chih and Officer Barry Jordan. Linthicum also faces charges of assault, armed carjacking and firearms offenses.

Wearing a cast on one arm, Chih limped out of the University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute in Northwest Baltimore on Tuesday, past a long line of police officers and state troopers saluting him. Medical staff cheered loudly from the lawn as he walked away from the building.

He embraced his relatives and Jordan, then thanked everyone who had come to greet him.

“It’s good to be out,” Chih said, before hugging Baltimore County executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. and climbing into a motorcade.

Authorities said Linthicum shot Chih, a narcotics detective, multiple times in the chest with a rifle Feb. 9 before stealing his police-issued Dodge truck. Chih was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was placed on life support and underwent surgery.

Shock Trauma’s chief physician, Dr. Thomas Scalea, said at the time that Chih would require “a significant amount of reconstruction” after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in his torso and extremities. Doctors released him from the hospital after 10 days.

A GoFundMe set up to cover his expenses has raised more than $147,000.

Police were first called to Linthicum’s Cockeysville home on Powers Avenue on Feb. 8 after his father John reported that his son was suicidal. After officers arrived, Linthicum fired at his father and Jordan with a rifle, according to charging documents, striking Jordan.

Linthicum also is charged with attempting to kill two other responding officers.

Jordan was treated at Sinai Hospital and released that day. Linthicum fled the house. Authorities urged residents to shelter in place and shut down area schools Feb. 9 while officers continued to search for him.

Chih encountered Linthicum along Warren Road between Bosley and Poplar Hill roads at about 9:30 p.m., according to charging documents. The detective’s body-camera footage showed Chih approaching Linthicum and the 24-yearold shooting at him multiple times, charging documents said. Chih retreated and returned fire with his service weapon.

Police wrote in charging documents that Linthicum drove Chih’s truck to Fallston, where officers used spike strips to disable the vehicle. After an eight-hour standoff in a cluster of woods involving state, local and federal law enforcement, Linthicum was arrested around dawn Feb. 10.

Linthicum’s public defender, Deborah Levi, has described her client as “a young man in crisis” and criticized the “aggressive” police response.