COLUMBIA, Md. — Disbelief over accounts of 33-year-old DiAngelo Smith allegedly killing his grandparents brought his longtime friend, Curt Johnson, back to the home on Red Haven Road in Columbia.
Jack and Barbara Stokes treated Smith like a child of their own after his mother died more than a decade ago.
“He was able to stay here until this day. No problems. No issues. Ever,” said Johnson, “Like this is weird. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”
A report of gun shots at the home in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday brought police to the home where they found Smith sitting in a car in the front drive pointing a gun at them.
“Eventually, we were able to take him into custody, using a drone actually, and they were able to approach the car and take him into custody,” said Seth Hoffman of the Howard County Police Department, “Once they went into the residence, that’s where they found the two deceased individuals who were his grandparents.”
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According to charging documents, both of his grandparents suffered gunshot wounds to the head.
A young child seated in the car with Smith during his confrontation with police escaped injury when he surrendered without incident.
“Most people run from stuff like that or take their self out. That simple,” said Johnson, “He ain’t, so whatever it is, he’s willing to see it through. So he’s got some bit of sanity in him."
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We don’t know the suspect’s mental state at the time of the shootings, but Johnson says a female friend who also lived inside the home says Smith told her a few weeks ago that he felt he was ‘possessed.’
Strange behavior followed by violence in the middle of the night by a grown man still living in the care of the people he would target.
“For that to happen, you had to be going through something,” said Johnson, “Ain’t nobody going here and doing that to their grandparents and I know he loved them.”
