Vigil Held to Mourn Victim, Seek Witnesses in Deadly Park Shooting

At a vigil Sunday night, family members pleaded with witnesses to come forward with leads in the fatal shooting of a Montgomery County man in the Edgewood Neighborhood Park in Silver Spring.

Police dispatchers received multiple 911 calls for a shooting about 4:45 p.m. Thursday and the sound of shots fired in the park, 13900 Robey Road in the Briggs Chaney area.

Montgomery County and Maryland-National Capital Park police officers and Fire-Rescue personnel who responded to the park found Garrett Alexander McClees, 22, suffering from gunshot wounds. McClees died from his injuries at the scene.

A suspect was not located.

McClees’ friends and family gathered Sunday night to mourn the 2011 Paint Branch High School graduate, who had recently returned to Maryland after living in California for several months. His friends and family described him as a free spirit and a young hippie.

“He touched so many lives with his wonderful personality and who he was. His free-spirited nature. Garrett was the light of my life,” McClees’ mother Alicia Arnold told WUSA. “We need to find out who did this to Garrett.”

A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in McClees’ death. Anyone with information to share may call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

»Screenshot from vigil, courtesy of WUSA