BEL AIR, Md. — An 18 year old from Bel Air is suspected of shooting out the windows of more than a dozen cars, homes, and businesses in Harford County.
Harford County Sheriff's Office officials said they received seven reports of vandalism on Thursday, May 30 between 5:24 p.m. and 11:23 p.m.
The first incident happened at a home in the 1000 block of Rosemont Drive in Joppa.
Mary Mullen has lived in that Joppa neighborhood 55 years.
She’s never been as frightened as she was Thursday night.
“It sounded like an explosion and glass came flying into the living room,” Mullen said. “I jumped and looked around.”
They were looking for the rock or baseball that caused the commotion and the hole that's now in their window.
Her husband saw what he thought was a battery.
“When the police came they said it was a bullet.”
But it wasn’t fired out of a gun. Based off what police discovered later, they think it may have been a slingshot.
“I was sitting right below the window, and like I said, if it had been sent through the window with a gun and it was lower it would have hit me in the back of the head,” Mullen said.
As the night unfolded, deputies responded to six other homes throughout Fallston, Bel Air, and Forrest Hill for similar reports of windows being shattered, including one vehicle's.
Each time the victims found either marbles or unspent bullets on their property.
At around 9:30 that night, Officer First Class John Ganovski of the Bel Air Police Department located and pulled over a vehicle of interest on Baltimore Pike.
According to Bel Air Police Chief Charles Moore, Ganovski saw a slingshot and container of marbles inside the car, which was occupied by only an 18-year-old male.
A search of the suspect's pockets revealed multiple bullets, similar to the ones found at some of the crime scenes.
Moore said Ganovski turned the 18 year old over to the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office says the suspect was released, but later issued a criminal summons. Officials say the suspect's identity is being withheld until the summons is served.
Chief Moore says his agency is investigating nine similar incidents reported in Bel Air since May 28.
Out of those complaints, four were businesses on Thomas and Bond Streets, and the others were homes on Kelly Avenue, Brooks Road, and Giles and Reed Streets.
No one was hurt during any of the incidents, police say.
Moore said charges related to those cases could soon be coming.
Bel Air Police is asking anyone who may have recently had their windows or windshields shattered by marbles or other projectiles to call them at 410-638-4500.
