Police: Second Suspect Charged With Attempted Murder

A second suspect has been charged with attempted murder, as more details emerge in the case of a Germantown man who police said evaded armed assailants by faking a gunshot wound.

Stephen Hammond, 28, of the 8500 block of Frederick Road in Ellicott City, Md., was arrested Thursday, Feb. 9, and is being held on $750,000 bond, police said Thursday.

Hammond was charged with attempted first degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, reckless endangerment, weapons offenses, and theft less that $1,000, according to Montgomery County District Court records accessed online.

The charges stem from an incident that began 7 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 19800 block of Crystal Rock drive, near Germantown Town Center. Police said a man was robbed, kidnapped and marched at gunpoint into a remote patch of woods in Gaithersburg, where he was shot at.

Police believe three men were involved.

One of the suspects, Quinnton Brown, 24, of Columbia Md., appeared via video for a bail review hearing Wednesday in Montgomery County District Court, where Judge Stephen P. Johnson ordered Brown be held without bail.

Brown was also charged with first-degree attempted murder, assault, kidnapping and weapons offenses.

The alleged victim, according to District Court records, was walking to his vehicle, a silver Range Rover, when he reportedly noticed three males approaching him. The man started to walk back to his apartment, but the suspects caught up with him, police said. The alleged victim said he knew one of the suspects as “Q,” who police later identified as Brown. 

The Germantown man was ordered to go inside and give the men money, court records state, but was shoved down stairs when he said he didn’t have any cash. Police allege Brown fired a shot into the air and forced the Germantown man into the backseat of the Range Rover. Brown sat in the backseat and while another suspect drove the SUV to an ATM. Police allege the man was forced at gunpoint to walk up to the ATM and withdraw $400, court records state.

All the while, the vehicle was being trailed by a Nissan, the Germantown man reportedly told police.

The suspects eventually drove to a secluded area off 11550 Game Preserve Road in Gaithersburg, where the alleged victim was marched into the woods at gunpoint, according to police. The alleged victim fought Brown in the woods and tried to run. Someone fired a shot at the alleged victim but missed.

According to police, the Germantown man fell down, pretending to be shot. The three suspects reportedly ran to the Nissan and drove away from the scene.

Brown was arrested in York, Pa., on Friday, Jan. 27. Under questioning, he described an armed home invasion in the Patton Ridge community of Montgomery Village the night before the Germantown incident, police said

Police allege Brown and three other men took a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun during a robbery at a Montgomery Village residence at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, according to records filed in Montgomery County District Court.

A baby sitter at a residence in the 9500 block of Briar Glenn Way responded to a knock at the door, thinking it was tied to a prior pizza delivery, according to District Court records.

Instead, four armed men confronted the sitter.

She was forced at gunpoint to sit in a dining room chair while two men ran upstairs and retrieved a safe; it was later discovered that a handgun was missing from the residence, court records state.

Police said they found the gun while conducting a search warrant in York.

Additional charges were filed against Brown the Montgomery Village incident.

Montgomery County Police Sgt. Jennifer McNeal, a police spokeswoman, was unable to provide further details about the Montgomery Village home invasion.

For Brown, preliminary hearings for both cases were scheduled for March 16 in Montgomery County District Court.

A preliminary hearing for Hammond has been scheduled for March 9, according to District Court records accessed online.