The Harford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 28-year-old woman at a Bel Air apartment complex.
Deputies responded to the 200 block of Clarkes Ridge Court just before 6 a.m. Tuesday.
What people heard outside the apartment building prompted several of them to dial 911, but a man who asked ABC2 News to conceal his identity for his own safety never realized a woman's life was on the line.
"I just heard four gunshots around 5:55 this morning. (I) didn't hear any other arguing or anything like that."
Harford County sheriff's deputies reached the parking lot outside that building within five minutes of those calls, and immediately discovered it had turned into a crime scene.
"Upon their arrival, they discovered an African American female in her twenties who had received gunshot wounds and she was deceased on the scene," Major William Davis of the sheriff's office, said.
At this point, police will only say the 28-year old victim lived alone in one of the units, and deputies had answered a call for service there last month, but they did not divulged the nature of that call.
With the gunman still on the loose, they are asking for anyone with information to come forward---no matter how insignificant it might seem.
"Even if you just maybe heard shots, how many shots you may have heard, saw a car in the neighborhood, saw somebody out there last night---anything,” said Davis, “It might be insignificant. It may have nothing to do with it, but please call us and let us know, but you never know. It might be a key piece of information that we need."
Police say they do not believe the shooting was random.
The unidentified woman was the target, and while one of her neighbors didn't see anything, what he heard appears to bear that out.
"Two tours in Iraq made me pretty familiar with the sound of gunshots, and just the rate of the fire---they were in pretty rapid succession. You could definitely tell it was a shooting."
Police are still in the process of notifying the victim's family.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Tammy Burns at 410-836-5043.
WMAR Staff contributed to this report.
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