A shooting in Maryland’s capital city after a dispute on Sunday night left three dead and three injured, local police said.
At a media briefing later that night, Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson told reporters that the incident wasn’t a random act of violence, and that the shooting posed no further threat to the neighborhood.
According to Jackson, the shooting stemmed from what he described as an “interpersonal dispute.”
“It would be premature to establish or affirm a motive at this time,” Jackson said at the press briefing, which was held less than 2 hours after the incident.
“This was an interpersonal dispute. I want to assure the community that there’s no public safety threat,” he added.
One person of interest had already been taken into custody, the chief added, while at least one gun—and maybe more—had been confiscated.
“It’s a very active and fluid investigation. We’re still trying to determine everything that occurred. We’re still piecing it together. We have a lot more work to do,” Jackson said.
At 8 p.m., police responded to a call reporting a shooting at a private residence on the 1000 block of Paddington Place in the city.
When police arrived at the scene, they found that six people had sustained gunshot wounds. Three of the victims died at the scene.
The police chief couldn’t say whether the shooting occurred in the house or outside, but confirmed that the victims died outside, and that “at least one house was struck” by gunfire.
Jackson said the police believe that an exchange of gunfire had occurred at the scene, but could not confirm it with absolute certainty.
The three deceased were found outside the house, and were pronounced dead at the scene. The ages of the deceased ranged from their 20’s to their early 50’s, and all of them were male.
Three other victims—two males and one female—were hospitalized for gunshot wounds but are in a stable condition, Jackson told The Baltimore Sun early Monday morning. One was airlifted to a shock trauma unit, according to an Annapolis Police media release.
Annapolis Major Gavin Buckley deplored the tragic incident. “Tonight was an example of, yet again, senseless violence,” he said. “People trying to resolve issues with guns. It is the most ridiculous thing that we can do as a society.”
“Nothing gets resolved through the use of a gun,” the major added.
“This is unusual for this area,” Jackson said, adding that “no area is immune. We’re living in times where the availability of handguns is plentiful right now, we have people who are willing to use them. That’s everywhere in this country.”
“Far too often … disputes are resolved by the use of handguns—they turn deadly very quickly,” Jackson added. “We just do our very best to prevent as much of it as we can, and react to it very aggressively to bring the persons responsible into a court of law when it does occur.”
