Homicide Victim Identified As 62-Year-Old Silver Spring Man: Police

SILVER SPRING, MD — Montgomery County Police identified 62-year-old Charles Joseph Reynolds of Silver Spring as the man whose body was found Wednesday night in the stairwell of the Wayne Avenue Garage in downtown Silver Spring.

Police were called around 8:59 p.m., for the report of a deceased individual who was found in the second floor stairwell of the garage, surrounded by a great deal of blood, according to MCDP Chief Marcus Jones, during a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

"Our preliminary investigation revealed Mr. Reynolds was having dinner with his family at a nearby restaurant, and had decided that he would take the leftovers from dinner to the vehicle before the family would decide to go and have ice cream at the Ben & Jerry's nearby," Jones said.

After a period of time had elapsed and Reynolds had not returned, police determined the dead person in the stairwell was Reynolds and he had likely been shot.

"We do not have any suspects at this point in time," Jones said. "Our investigators have been working with local establishments and other entities with video cameras in the vicinity, in an attempt to find any video footage which will assist us in this investigation."

When Reynolds' body had been found, he was still in possession of his personal items and his vehicle remained parked on the third floor of the garage, according to Jones.

OnThursday morning, Commander David McBain began diverting resources from other areas of the 3rd District to downtown Silver Spring. The public an expect more foot patrols and a higher police presence, focusing on all county parking garages.

"These efforts will continue for the foreseeable future until we can get some answers to this horrific crime and we'll continue to divert resources as needed for the remainder of the year and into 2023," McBain said, during the news conference.

County Executive Marc Elrich described Wednesday night's fatal shooting as "tragic" and "pretty horrifying."

"It appears to be very different than other shootings where people knew each other and this is the kind of random thing that is really most worrisome to people in the community," he said. "As somebody who lives in Takoma Park and visits Silver Spring frequently, I walked down that stairwell all the time. I think of all the people who go down there and the idea that that became the scene of murder is really concerning."

Elrich extended his condolences to the Reynolds family.

"We live in a very tight knit community in Montgomery County, and incidents like this impact all of us," said Councilmember Kate Stewart, during the news conference. "In this instance, I do know the family and I know at this time we're sending, as the county exec said, all of our wishes to them and rallying around them and supporting them at this time."

Police are asking anyone who may have been in downtown Silver Spring or in the vicinity of the Wayne Avenue garage, which is located at 921 Wayne Ave., to contact the Major Crimes Division at Police are asking the 866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous.

One of the things Elrich said he was going to be talking about was making sure there were cameras at all of the garage entrances and stairwells that may have a deterrent effect.

"The biggest deterrent is the people out there, if you know something, please tell us," Elrich said. "We protect anonymity. But, if you have information about this, we need the information."