ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — It was Monday, October 16th, when gunfire erupted outside the Exxon gas station in the Long Reach Village Center of Columbia, and police discovered one man who had been critically injured.
Two others showed up at Howard County General Hospital where 24-year-old Dylan Migel Perez of Baltimore died from his injuries.
Ironically, it was a three-month-old robbery case that led to the discovery of a dozen or more ghost guns in different stages of assembly just three days after the triple shooting that gave police the murder weapon.
“Howard County Police have charged two suspects from Baltimore. 18-year-old Shamond Stewart and a 17-year-old male in a fatal shooting in Columbia,” said Howard County Police Chief Gregory Der, “We have also charged three teens and one adult, 46-year-old Kevin Mobley, all from Columbia, in a separate robbery and ghost gun investigation.”
While the shooting suspects and victims are all from Baltimore and the guns are tied to Columbia, Howard County State’s Attorney Rich Gibson says there’s a big difference between to two cities when it comes to solving cases like these.
“Our primary partner in safety is the community itself,” said Gibson, “We don’t have a ‘Stop snitching’ mentality in this space. Instead, we have a community that has embraced the idea ‘If you see something, you should say something’.”
Police are not releasing any information on a motive for the triple shooting.
