Shootings raise fear of gangs in Oakland Mills
Community meets with police following two incidents
By Mike Santa Rita
Posted 5/21/08
Lynette Locke is worried gangs are staking out turf in Columbia.
"I think there's gangs out there; I really do," Locke said at a community meeting called by Howard County police May 20 in Oakland Mills in the wake of two shootings -- one fatal -- that occurred in the village last weekend.
Locke, who has lived in Columbia since 1972, added that she is concerned about groups of males she has seen loitering in the Oakland Mills Village Center.
The center is across Stevens Forest Road from the Stevens Forest Apartments where, according to police, Jason Batts, 23, of Long Reach, was shot to death at about 2:50 a.m. May 17 in a parking lot.
On May 20, police arrested and charged Ronald Derrick McConnell, 21, of no fixed address, with first - and second-degree murder, assault and reckless endangerment in Batts' death.
Batts' shooting was the second homicide of the year in Howard County and the first in Oakland Mills since 2003, according to police.
Less than 24 hours after Batts' shooting, another occurred at 1:12 a.m. May 18, in the 5800 block of Thunder Hill Road, in Oakland Mills, near the Shadow Oaks apartment complex.
In that incident, Wayne Ronald Hamblin, 24, of Harper's Choice, was shot in the shoulder during a fight between two groups of people, some of whom fled into the apartment complex after the shooting, according to police.
Hamblin was transported to The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was treated and released, police said.
Police have not charged anyone in that incident.
Community concern
Locke was among more than 100 people who gathered in the Other Barn, at the Oakland Mills Village Center to voice concerns to police Chief William McMahon about the shootings and possible gang activity in the village.
Police are investigating whether the shootings are connected or gang-related, McMahon said.
"We don't want corners, we don't want apartments, we don't want communities taken over," he told residents.
Kathie Wuwer, a resident of the Shadow Oaks complex, told McMahon she was concerned police had yet to make an arrest in Hamblin's shooting.
Police attempted to enter a Shadow Oaks apartment after the shooting but were denied access, after which officers evacuated neighboring apartments, according to Sherry Llewellyn, a police spokeswoman.
Officers ultimately gained access to the apartment, questioned several occupants and took several others to police headquarters for questioning, Llewellyn said.
Wuwer told McMahon that several of the people police questioned were back in the complex on May 18.
McMahon said investigators had found no probable cause to arrest anyone in connection with the shooting.
Fingerprint found
Police also said this week that detectives recovered a piece of a shotgun at the scene of Batts' killing and found a fingerprint belonging to McConnell on plastic tape wrapped around the weapon.
Investigators also received information from informants that McConnell was involved in the shooting and had been seen with a shotgun matching the one investigators recovered at the scene, police said.
McConnell, whose street name is "Rock," had ordered Batts' shooting because of an ongoing dispute, according to charging documents. He was being held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center following a hearing before a District Court commissioner on May 21, according to a District Court spokeswoman.
McConnell was scheduled for a May 22 bail review hearing in District Court, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino.
Members of Batts' family declined comment.
E-mail Mike Santa Rita at msantarita@patuxent.com.
"I think there's gangs out there; I really do," Locke said at a community meeting called by Howard County police May 20 in Oakland Mills in the wake of two shootings -- one fatal -- that occurred in the village last weekend.
Locke, who has lived in Columbia since 1972, added that she is concerned about groups of males she has seen loitering in the Oakland Mills Village Center.
The center is across Stevens Forest Road from the Stevens Forest Apartments where, according to police, Jason Batts, 23, of Long Reach, was shot to death at about 2:50 a.m. May 17 in a parking lot.
On May 20, police arrested and charged Ronald Derrick McConnell, 21, of no fixed address, with first - and second-degree murder, assault and reckless endangerment in Batts' death.
Batts' shooting was the second homicide of the year in Howard County and the first in Oakland Mills since 2003, according to police.
Less than 24 hours after Batts' shooting, another occurred at 1:12 a.m. May 18, in the 5800 block of Thunder Hill Road, in Oakland Mills, near the Shadow Oaks apartment complex.
In that incident, Wayne Ronald Hamblin, 24, of Harper's Choice, was shot in the shoulder during a fight between two groups of people, some of whom fled into the apartment complex after the shooting, according to police.
Hamblin was transported to The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was treated and released, police said.
Police have not charged anyone in that incident.
Community concern
Locke was among more than 100 people who gathered in the Other Barn, at the Oakland Mills Village Center to voice concerns to police Chief William McMahon about the shootings and possible gang activity in the village.
Police are investigating whether the shootings are connected or gang-related, McMahon said.
"We don't want corners, we don't want apartments, we don't want communities taken over," he told residents.
Kathie Wuwer, a resident of the Shadow Oaks complex, told McMahon she was concerned police had yet to make an arrest in Hamblin's shooting.
Police attempted to enter a Shadow Oaks apartment after the shooting but were denied access, after which officers evacuated neighboring apartments, according to Sherry Llewellyn, a police spokeswoman.
Officers ultimately gained access to the apartment, questioned several occupants and took several others to police headquarters for questioning, Llewellyn said.
Wuwer told McMahon that several of the people police questioned were back in the complex on May 18.
McMahon said investigators had found no probable cause to arrest anyone in connection with the shooting.
Fingerprint found
Police also said this week that detectives recovered a piece of a shotgun at the scene of Batts' killing and found a fingerprint belonging to McConnell on plastic tape wrapped around the weapon.
Investigators also received information from informants that McConnell was involved in the shooting and had been seen with a shotgun matching the one investigators recovered at the scene, police said.
McConnell, whose street name is "Rock," had ordered Batts' shooting because of an ongoing dispute, according to charging documents. He was being held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center following a hearing before a District Court commissioner on May 21, according to a District Court spokeswoman.
McConnell was scheduled for a May 22 bail review hearing in District Court, said Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino.
Members of Batts' family declined comment.
E-mail Mike Santa Rita at msantarita@patuxent.com.
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