On Dec. 26 at 9 a.m., a 44-year-old La Plata man approached patrol officers who were conducting a separate traffic stop to report his residence had just been damaged by a gunshot. Officers responded to the residence in the 6600 block of Dobbins Lane in La Plata and located a small hole on the exterior of the residence. Inside the residence, in a bathroom closet on the second floor, officers located an expended shotgun slug.
Officers searched a dirt road in a nearby wooded area and located an empty shotgun shell about a mile from the victim's house. As officers continued into the woods, they found a truck occupied by a 19-year-old Waldorf man, a 21-year-old La Plata man and a third unidentified individual. The Waldorf and La Plata men were carrying shotguns and investigation revealed one of the men had shot at a deer in the direction of the residence. The recovered slug and the recovered shotgun shell appear to match.
The Sheriff's Office contacted the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police, who will investigate hunting laws violations. Sheriff's officers will charge the suspects at a later date. No one was injured at the residence. Officer D. Baker is investigating.