Detective Shot In Chase Returns Home To Anne Arundel County

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — One of the two detectives shot earlier this month has returned home to Anne Arundel County. Detective Ian Preece was welcomed back with fanfare. According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, they are "thrilled to have him back in our county with his blue family."

"Don’t worry Preece family, we promise to take good care of him. Welcome home brother," the department posted on its Facebook page along with the video.

Preece was one of two Anne Arundel County police detectives who tried to arrest 22-year-old Joseph Robert Mitchell Willis of Pasadena, who has since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Christopher Lawrence Jones, 44, of Glen Burnie. Willis also has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shootings of the detectives, Patch previously reported.

According to police, Willis had been staying with Jones. When officers investigating Jones' murder discovered that his vehicle was missing, they sought help from the fugitive apprehension team and Homeland Security and Intelligence to help locate it, shared Anne Arundel County Sgt. Jacklyn Davis during a press conference. When detectives spotted Jones' vehicle in Baltimore City on the eastern county line, they tried to stop it and that's when Det. Scott Ballard and Preece was shot by Willis who was in the vehicle. Ballard drove himself to a nearby convenience store to request assistance. Preece saw his partner get shot and continued the pursuit of Willis who took off to the Orchard Beach/Stoney Beach communities. Preece was shot by Willis who then fled on foot.

About 50 police officers with canines searched to find Willis. Schools were closed in the area as the manhunt unfolded. Both injured officers were originally listed in stable condition at the same area hospital. On Feb. 10, the Anne Arundel County Police Department announced that both detectives had been released from the hospital and were "home recovering with their families."