Montgomery Party Ends in Shooting

Two Teens Hurt; Suspect Sought

Two teenagers were shot at a backyard birthday party in eastern Montgomery County after uninvited guests began a scuffle in the crowd, police said yesterday.

The two victims -- a 14-year-old Silver Spring girl and a 16-year-old Burtonsville boy -- were taken to hospitals Saturday night after the shooting in the Calverton community of Silver Spring, said Montgomery County Police Capt. Christina Faass. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Police are searching for the male who shot the teenagers, who officers believe were not the targets, Faass said. She would not release their names. Police are offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest.

Officers responded to a call to the 2900 block of Gracefield Road about 11:45 p.m., she said. Most of the guests were 14 to 16 years old. There were adult chaperones, and no alcohol was being served, she said.

Diem Le, a freshman at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, said about 200 friends and classmates started arriving at her home about 7 p.m. Saturday, the day after she turned 15. She said that there were five chaperones -- her parents, an aunt, an uncle and a family friend -- and that she served her guests soft drinks. A go-go band made up of Paint Branch students provided entertainment.

As the party was winding down about midnight, things started to go wrong, she said. She noticed some uninvited guests. One of them, a girl, began a fight, which set off other scuffles. She and her friends had just led one of the instigators to the front lawn when she heard shots in the back yard, she said.

"All of a sudden, you hear pop, pop, pop, pop, and everyone runs out of the yard," she said.

Le said she did not see the shooter and could not guess what set him off. She said she did not know any of the other uninvited guests.

"My friends are going to be talking about this forever," she said as she sat on her front porch yesterday, clutching her cell phone.

Police described the shooter as a black male about 16 to 18 years old, about 180 pounds, between 6 feet and 6-2 tall and with his hair styled in braids or twists.

The shooting startled residents on Gracefield Road.

William and Cheryl Journiette, who live across the street, had been asleep when they heard the shots. The teenage boy who was wounded was led to the Journiettes' front lawn by two friends. William Journiette said the boy had blood on his chest and collapsed against the back bumper of Cheryl Journiette's sport-utility vehicle. The Journiettes stayed with him until an ambulance arrived.

"It's sad," William Journiette said. "They invited people. It wound up being more than anticipated. The party got way out of control. There were too many people all at one time."

His 15-year-old daughter, Ausetsa Journiette, said trouble was brewing long before the shooting. Ausetsa arrived at the party about 7 p.m. and noticed tension between two groups of boys. She decided to leave about 9 p.m. when the back yard started getting too crowded.

"I knew that something was going to happen, so I left," she said.

Neighbor Maria Miles said she heard loud drum music coming from the house all evening. She said that Le had knocked on neighbors' doors that day to let them know that she was going to have a party but that it would not last beyond midnight.

"This is kind of scary, hearing all these police cars out here and the helicopters," Miles said.

Lady Diggs, another neighbor, was reading in her bedroom when she heard what sounded like fireworks. "We've lived in this neighborhood 10 years, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened," she said. "It's weird."