PG Man Suspected in 5 Shots Fired Incidents: Police

Police have identified the suspect in a series of shots fired incidents around the Baltimore-Washington region as a 35-year-old Beltsville man who is a former correctional officer.

Hong Young, of the 4900 block of Daisy Creek Terrace in Beltsville, will be charged with attempted first-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, using a firearm in a felony crime, having a handgun in a vehicle and reckless endangerment, according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, which has obtained a warrant for his arrest. Those charges are connected to a Feb. 24 shots fired incident in Hanover, police said.

Young is a former correctional officer who served in a medium-sized Jessup facility from January 2012 to May 2014, according to Stephen Moyer, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

“There was nothing significant about his employment with the Department of Public Safety,” Moyer said at a press conference Wednesday broadcast live by WBAL. “He did resign, and I’ve had my staff vet that file, and there’s nothing significant in that file.”

Anne Arundel officers found Young in the 7000 block of Arundel Mills Circle by Costco at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in a blue 1999 Lincoln Town Car, the type of vehicle they were investigating in connection with a shots fired incident near the Arundel Mills PetSmart that occurred on Feb. 24.

Police said that officers saw in plain view .380 shell casings and a .380 semiautomatic handgun, the same caliber handgun used in five incidents that officials have been investigating as possibly connected in the area over the past week, including the incident near PetSmart.

Related: Shots Fired by Arundel Mills PetSmart

Preliminary ballistics testing on the gun and casings indicates a match to shootings at the NSA, on the Intercounty Connector, Columbia AMC Theatre, Arundel Mills PetSmart and Laurel Walmart, police reported.

Related: Suspected Gunman in NSA Shots Fired Incident in Custody

Interviews following Young’s arrest and evidence from the vehicle confirm that he was responsible for five shots fired incidents in the region, according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

A motive is not clear, according to police.

“We are still attempting to assess the potential motive of the suspect, but this does not appear to be related to any potential domestic terrorism,” the Anne Arundel County Police Department said in a statement.

WJLA reported that Young’s wife recently left him, he is currently unemployed and he’s now at a psychiatric facility.

Young was being held Wednesday at a local hospital under police guard, according to the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

“This case truly was good old-fashioned police work at its finest,” Anne Arundel County Police Chief Tim Altomare said in a statement. “Officers shared information and ultimately located and removed this person from the community before he took someone’s life.”

Altomare said that Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s county police departments collaborated to share intelligence.

Mug shot of Hong Young courtesy of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. Map of shots fired incidents provided by the Anne Arundel County Police Department.