Police: Severn Homicide Victims Identified, Resident Arrested for Drugs

Severn, MD — Authorities have identified two men allegedly shot by a Severn resident, and say the home where the gunfire erupted was filled with drugs, while the homeowner – and reported shooter – has been charged with drug trafficking.

Anne Arundel County police were called to the 7600 block of Sandy Farm Road in Severn for a possible residential burglary just before midnight on Saturday.

Officers found a man suffering from gunshot wounds inside the residence; he had forced his way into the home through a window, police said. The man was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where he died.

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Inside a pick-up truck parked near the residence, police found a man who had died from gunshot wounds.

On Monday evening, police said the man found in the residence has been identified as Duwayne Thomas Mason, 42, from the 4000 block of Blue Wing Court in Columbia. The dead man in the pickup truck was identified as Timothy John Kerr, 41, from the 3000 block of Hollands Cliffs Road in Huntingtown.

When officers executed a search warrant at the shooting scene, detectives found numerous controlled substances, including heroin, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, alprazolam pills, and suboxone film strips.

Investigators also seized $6,140 cash and a loaded 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun.

The resident who allegedly shot the men is John Matthew Garrison, 52, is charged with: possession of cocaine, possession of crack cocaine, possession of amphetamine dextroamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute amphetamine dextroamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

Garrison was being held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on a $350,000 bond, police said Monday.

Preliminarily it appears it the shootings could have been self-defense, police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said Sunday, but that decision must be made by prosecutors.

Homicide detectives continue to sort through all of the evidence and are piecing together the chain of events and circumstances that led to the shooting deaths of Mason and Kerr. Police continue to work with the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office to determine if any other criminal charges apply to this death investigation, a release said.

Investigators believe both men were shot at another residence in the 7600 block of Sandy Farm Road during a confrontation with Garrison.

The pair fled after they were shot, with Mason forcing his way into the second residence as he sought help for his wound, which prompted the initial call to police. Kerr, who was found in the pick-up truck, apparently tried to drive out of the area before dying from his injuries.

A police department release says the shootings were an isolated incident and there is no threat to public safety.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore conducted autopsies on the men and ruled the cause of death as gunshot wounds with the manner being homicide.

The two deaths mark the seventh and eighth homicides for Anne Arundel County this year.

Anne Arundel County Police ask anyone with information to call the Homicide Unit at 410-222- 4731. To share information and remain anonymous, contact the Anne Arundel County Police Tip Line 410-222- 4700 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866- 7LOCKUP or text “MCS plus your message” to CRIMES (274637).

»Photo of shooting suspect John Garrison, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police