LEONARDTOWN, Md. (March 6, 2014)—The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office released the following incident and arrest reports.
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT OPERATION ON GREAT MILLS ROAD: On February 21, between 3:00pm and 9:00pm, 6 deputies conducted a comprehensive traffic enforcement operation along the length of Great Mills Road. The operation was funded by the Maryland Highway Safety grant. Deputies conducted 84 traffic stops, which resulted in 38 written citations, 68 written warnings, 1 safety equipment repair order issued, and 1 drug arrest.
STRAY BULLETS MAY HAVE COME FROM SHERIFF'S OFFICE WEAPON: On February 27, deputies responded to a residence located on Larkspur Street in the Wildewood Subdivision for a shooting complaint. The complainant, Patrick Orear, reported a projectile fired from a firearm entered his residence through a double paned window. The window was damaged; however, no one was injured as a result of the incident.
As part of the initial response, deputies performed an extensive canvass of the area to locate any additional victims and/or evidence. Members of the crime lab responded to the area, and while examining the scene, located damage to an adjacent residence. The investigation is ongoing to determine if the damage is related to this incident.
Additionally, it was determined Sheriff's Office personnel were conducting firearms training over a mile away during the time of the incident. As a precautionary measure, training exercises were immediately halted. All weapons being used during those exercises were taken by the Office of Professional Responsibilities (OPR) personnel. Those weapons will be submitted for examination to determine if the round that struck the Larkspur residence came from one of those weapons.
Detectives searched the Sheriff's Office database to locate all similar calls for service reported in the Wildewood community and surrounding area. During the search, a similar incident had been reported in December 2012 in the Wildewood development. A projectile in that case was recovered and will be compared to determine if it came from a Sheriff's Office weapon.
Sheriff Tim Cameron released the following statement:
"As we take steps to determine if rounds that penetrated homes in the Dahlia Park community came from Sheriff's Office weapons, I want to assure the public that I am committed to continuing to work with the victim families to keep them informed and aid in their recovery from the shattered sense of safety and security in their home. I am mortified that there is even potential for one of our training rounds causing damage or injury. We have suspended use of all private property for firearms training and will evaluate all training sites for safety of users and surrounding residents. Finally, we will continue to investigate and determine the origin of the rounds that caused the damage and provide that information to the public."
Additional details will be released as they are developed.