D.C.-area mayor's house is raided
A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there, police said.
Prince George's County police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT team.
The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. Calvo's mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an investigation.
"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.
Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis said deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.
Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.
Calvo said he has no idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.
Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit group that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.
Associated Press
Montgomery Co.
Potomac
Unfinished home of Marriott burns
Authorities say a fire destroyed an unfinished home owned by John Marriott, causing millions of dollars in damage.
Pete Piringer of the Montgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue Services said the fire broke out about 10 p.m. Wednesday on Pleasant Hill Drive in the Potomac Falls neighborhood. Firefighters put out hot spots into the early morning.
Piringer says officials believe spontaneous combustion may have caused the fire, with organic-based products catching fire in an attached garage. No one was injured.
Piringer says damage is estimated from $3.5 million to $4 million. He says the 26,000-square-foot home was 30 percent complete.
Roger Conner, a spokesman for Marriott International Inc. in Bethesda, said the home under construction belonged to John Marriott, son of Bill Marriott, chairman and chief executive officer of the hotel company.
