Celestine Howard, grandmother of the injured 22-year-old, said he was shot in the spine. Police said he may be paralyzed. Nathaniel Quick is a student at Bowie State University, and Howard said he attended the party with a friend who had heard about the event through a social-networking Web site.
When police arrived at the home at about 1:15 a.m., more than 100 young people were still at the party.
Officers said the house was the location of another loud party in June that prompted at least one phone call to 911.
"This summer, there was a similar cadre of cars up and down the street," said neighbor Rob Weiss, who has lived on the street for a year and a half. "And there were a lot of kids running around, screaming and yelling, pushing and shoving."
Joanne Powell, listed in land records as the owner of the Columbia house with Dennis Edwards, filed for bankruptcy protection in January. Both owners were facing foreclosure proceedings until the case was dismissed in August. They could not be reached by telephone for a comment, and no one answered the door Sunday afternoon. The house was purchased for $1.6 million three years ago.
Blood stained the driveway less than a dozen feet from the front steps of the house. Signs of damage were visible inside, including a bashed-in staircase.
Llewellyn, the police spokeswoman, said the department isn't ruling out the possibility that there was more than one shooter. No arrests have been made.
"What we know from witnesses is there was some kind of ongoing altercation throughout the evening. What we don't know yet is whether that altercation started before the party began," she said. "We don't know what the motive was or what the argument was about."
Llewellyn said police have no reason to think the shooting was related to gangs or drugs.
Neighbors didn't know what to make of the ruckus.
"We thought it was firecrackers. Then we heard the screams," said Teri Deuel, who lives behind the house on a neighboring street. "It took us about a half-hour to figure out that somebody got shot."
Bans Sandhu, who lives nearby, said he heard multiple shots ring out. "I don't know how many, but a full magazine," he said. "Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang."
Neighbor Fadeke Iluyomade, 51, was working in her study when she heard what sounded to her like fireworks, except louder. "Then suddenly there were a lot of people running, running away from the house. Some were running on my lawn," she said. "That was when I called the police because I didn't know what was going on."
