COLUMBIA, Md. — Gunfire rang out on Monday night outside the Exxon gas station in the Long Reach Village Center of Columbia.
“I could have been here last night,” said Sam Serio, a lifetime Howard County resident, as he come out of the business on Tuesday, “I’m glad I wasn’t.”
Howard County police officers heard the shots and when they arrived on the scene, they discovered a man suffering from a gun shot wound.
“A short time later, two additional adult male victims arrived at Howard County General Hospital’s ER,” said Lori Boone of the Howard County Police Department, “One of them was ultimately pronounced dead.”
The victim has now been identified as 24-year-old Dylan Migel Perez of Baltimore, but court records suggest he had lived in Elkridge a few years ago.
At last report, the other two victims remain in critical condition.
“Maybe they should have some more police around here,” said Serio, “I don’t see too many police.”
A closer survey of the area shows police have a neighborhood satellite office just across the parking lot and people who work in the center say the gas station has become a magnet for drug dealing, although police have not yet determined a motive in this case.
“People do tend to gather in that area,” said Boone, “In fact, that’s why there were police nearby at the time.”
Earlier this year, Columbia was the only city in Maryland to make a pair of national lists of the best places to live or to raise a family, but that distinction may ring a bit hollow in light of the fatal shooting.
“This shows that this can happen anywhere,” said Lillian Prophet who has lived in the Long Reach community for 14 years.
Police are offering a $5,000 reward in this case, and if you have information, you’re asked to call them at 410-313-STOP.
