Ellicott City Walmart Shooting: Reward Offered For Info, Police Say

ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Days after a man was shot in the face in the Ellicott City Walmart, police said the suspect remains at large.

Authorities believe the victim and suspect did not know one another, based on preliminary investigation into the weekend shooting at the store in the 3200 block of North Ridge Road.

Police said the victim – a 23-year-old Baltimore man – was leaving the Walmart and the suspect was entering when they exchanged words around midnight on Sunday. (For more on this and other local news, get Ellicott City Patch news alerts.)

It was not known what the two men said to each other, but afterward, police reported the man exiting turned around to confront the man entering, who pulled out a gun and fired once, hitting the victim in the cheek.

The victim retrieved a gun from a Mercedes sedan in the parking lot, witnesses reported, and fired multiple shots that hit the Walmart building. Nobody was injured in the shooting at the store's exterior, according to police.

The victim got into the Mercedes, which was driven by someone else and contained another passenger, then left, authorities said.

Officers were dispatched at midnight for a report of shots fired at the store.

Police stopped the Mercedes nearby on Town and Country Boulevard and arranged for the shooting victim to be taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, according to officials.

Police said that the man suspected of shooting him had left the Walmart through a side door and walked away. Authorities canvassed the area and could not find him.

He was described as a thin black man who was about 6 feet tall and 20 to 25 years old.

Investigators do not think that the shooting is gang-related, according to Howard County Police Department spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.

• Walmart Shooting Injures 1 In Ellicott City: Police

Since the shooting, the victim has been treated and released from the hospital, police said. His identity is not being disclosed due to the ongoing investigation, and the store's surveillance video is also not being released, police said.

The potential involvement of the driver and passenger in the case is under review.

There is a reward of $2,500 for information regarding the incident. Call Howard County police at 410-313-STOP or email HCPDcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov.

Patch file photo.