Tuesday, November 7, 2006

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
Gunfight Leaves 1 Dead, 1 Injured

One man was killed and another was critically wounded Sunday during a "gun battle" at a Crofton home, Anne Arundel County police said.

Responding after noon to a report of a shooting at 1709 Leisure Way, police found one man dead. He has not been identified. A resident of the house, Christopher Michael Haramis, 25, had been shot multiple times, police said. He was in critical condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Police said the shooting may have been tied to an earlier confrontation during a party at the house.

About 2 a.m., police said, a man and a woman who had stepped outside the house were confronted by two men looking for cash.

"The persons inside the residence came out and basically interrupted the robbery and subsequently fought with the robbers," said Lt. David Waltemeyer, a police spokesman. "The robbers then ran away, making away with money, and no one was injured."

Those robbers may have been the two men who came to the house midday Sunday, Waltemeyer said. Haramis, who was inside the house with three others, was armed and shot the intruder, who died at the house, police said.

It is unclear who shot Haramis, police said, adding that the other intruder fled.

-- Raymond McCaffrey

A 17-year-old boy has been indicted on charges of raping a girl and sexually assaulting three others inside Tuscarora High School in Frederick during the past two school years.

Michael Thomas Smith of Frederick remained in the Frederick County jail yesterday, three days after he was indicted.

His bail was set at $1 million.

Smith previously had been charged with assaulting two of the girls. The indictment consolidates the cases with those involving two other girls.

One of the girls allegedly was raped twice -- once in a girls' restroom and once in an entrance to an auditorium -- in attacks April 23 and May 4.

Deputy State's Attorney J. Charles Smith, who is not related to the defendant, said the first attack occurred Jan. 20 and the last Oct. 17. Three of the girls came forward after the girl in the Oct. 17 case reported being assaulted.

Smith is charged with two counts of second-degree rape, one count of attempted second-degree rape, six counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree sex offense, four counts of fourth-degree sex offense and four counts of false imprisonment.

If convicted on all counts, he could face 134 years in prison.

-- Associated Press

Most of the land for a large subdivision proposed on the Eastern Shore will be bought by the state, ending more than a year of tension over thousands of proposed houses that environmentalists warned would harm a nearby wildlife refuge.

The state will spend up to $10.4 million to buy 754 of about 1,080 acres of mostly farmland in Dorchester County, near Cambridge. A developer, Duane Zentgraf, had planned to build thousands of houses, a golf course and a hotel on the land.

The agreement, subject to an appraisal and final state approval, leaves room for 675 houses, most of them for older adults only. The golf course and hotel have been scrapped.

Negotiators hope the state purchase, made with funds designated to buy open space, will end more than a year of tension over the proposed Blackwater Resort Communities. Environmental groups and some neighbors expressed fears that the development would harm the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, an area of fragile wetlands.

The timing of the announcement -- less than 24 hours before polls opened -- raised questions. The development had become a top issue in local races, with Republican lawmakers from the area facing questions from some for their perceived support of the development.

-- Associated Press

A member of the violent street gang MS-13 was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Greenbelt to 10 years in prison for using a firearm to further racketeering by the gang, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.

Jose Pena Aguilar, known as "Smokey," was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to five years of supervised probation. The judge ordered that Pena Aguilar's sentence be served consecutively to the 20-year sentence he received in Circuit Court in Prince George's County, where he pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a shooting three years ago at High Point High School in Beltsville.

Pena Aguilar pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to the federal firearms charge. A summary of facts that was part of his plea agreement indicated that he committed the shooting at the high school June 10, 2003, and drove the getaway car after another MS-13 member fatally shot a man in Langley Park on April 2, 2003.

Pena Aguilar is among 22 alleged gang members indicted on racketeering charges in suburban Maryland, and one of three who has pleaded guilty. The first two defendants to stand trial -- Oscar Ramos "Casper" Velasquez, 21, and Edgar Alberto "Pony" Ayala, 29 -- are awaiting a jury verdict. The jury in their case began deliberating Friday and will resume deliberations today.

-- Ruben Castaneda

A member of the violent street gang MS-13 was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Greenbelt to 10 years in prison for using a firearm to further racketeering by the gang, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said.

Jose Pena Aguilar, known as "Smokey," was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to five years of supervised probation. The judge ordered that Pena Aguilar's sentence be served consecutively to the 20-year sentence he received in Circuit Court in Prince George's County, where he pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a shooting three years ago at High Point High School in Beltsville.

Pena Aguilar pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to the federal firearms charge. A summary of facts that was part of his plea agreement indicated that he committed the shooting at the high school June 10, 2003, and drove the getaway car after another MS-13 member fatally shot a man in Langley Park on April 2, 2003.

Pena Aguilar is among 22 alleged gang members indicted on racketeering charges in suburban Maryland, and one of three who has pleaded guilty. The first two defendants to stand trial -- Oscar Ramos "Casper" Velasquez, 21, and Edgar Alberto "Pony" Ayala, 29 -- are awaiting a jury verdict. The jury in their case began deliberating Friday and will resume deliberations today.

-- Ruben Castaneda