Assault

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. Damonte Dodd and Roddy Peters officially joined the Maryland basketball team this week, stepping foot on campus for the first time as students and participating in organized summer workouts. Melo Trimble , a 2014 guard from Bishop O'Connell, will join them the following year. In the not-so-distant past, though, some - and potentially all - of them might not have ever committed to Maryland.

Baltimore police seized three assault rifles and more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition in a drug raid on an East Baltimore house just north of Patterson Park. Francisco G. Milos, 29, reportedly told officers he had the weapons because he was "preparing for the war," according to charging documents. When one of the arresting officers, Sgt. Lennardo Bailey, asked him who was going to be part of the war, Milos did not reply, police say. The search warrant was executed on the home in the 100 block of N. Kenwood Ave. in the Baltimore-Linwood neighborhood at 9 p.m. Wednesday, the result of an investigation that included undercover purchases of marijuana from the location, police said.

When Baltimore County police officers arrived at the scene of a reported shooting in Edgemere on Tuesday evening, 43-year-old Kevin Allen Himes, who had a gunshot wound in his chest, told them who had shot him. Himes said he had been in an altercation with Leo Harlen Moser, 53, and that Moser had shot him, police said. Police searched the area near the 7500 block of Sparrows Point Boulevard, where the shooting had occurred, and found Moser with a .40 caliber handgun in his possession, Baltimore County Police said.

Bel Air Police say they are investigating an abduction and attempted sexual assault that began on the town's southwest side late the evening of May 14. At approximately 11 p.m., the victim, a woman in her mid-20s, reported stopping in the area of Marketplace Drive and Route 24 to help a man who was waving for help along the roadside, the Bel Air Police Department said in a news release issued Friday morning. According to the release, the man forced his way into the victim's car and drove to a location in Abingdon or Edgewood "where he attempted to sexually assault the victim.

Baltimore police officer Robert W. Mitchell faces a second-degree assault charge after police and prosecutors accused him of overstepping his powers and beating a young man more than a year ago. The Baltimore state's attorney's office also charged Mitchell on Friday with two counts of misconduct in office. Prosecutors allege that Mitchell beat Baltimore resident Tiyon Williams in the 1000 block of N. Mount St. on May 19, 2012. "The allegations against Mr. Mitchell are reprehensible," Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said in a statement, "and I promise we will continue to aggressively target those who sacrilege the good men and women of this department and the sacred privilege of serving our community.

A school police officer at Pikesville High School was assaulted after responding to a fight in the gym this morning, Baltimore County police said. The fight broke out between two students shortly before 9:40 a.m., said Cpl. Cathy Batton, a police spokeswoman. No injuries were reported. Charges are pending against both students, Batton said. alisonk@baltsun.com twitter.com/aliknez

In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose, that they are blinded by their pride. Perhaps that's the root of the problem infecting the Justice Department, where officials secretly obtained months of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press. That Attorney General Eric Holder or anyone else there could find that action acceptable is frightening, to say the least.

The recent study estimating that there may have been 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the military last year stirred a lot of tough talk from the Pentagon and the White House over the past 24 hours. But the question is whether that outrage will translate into much-needed reforms within the armed forces. On that front, we have our doubts. The U.S. military's failure to adequately address sex crimes within its ranks is hardly a new problem, but the rise of such incidents - up from 19,000 in 2010 - is shocking.

Baltimore County police are investigating an assault outside of Woodlawn High School Friday after a video was posted on YouTube. The incident took place sometime after school but does not appear to have been reported to police, according to a statement from the department. The victim and a 17-year old suspect have been identified, police said, but it is unclear if the teen will be charged as an adult or a juvenile. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton said investigators are still trying to determine if Woodlawn students were involved in the incident.

The Pentagon estimated Tuesday that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted last year, 36 percent more than a year earlier, in a trend so severe that senior officials warned it could threaten recruiting and retention of military personnel. President Barack Obama, reacting to the startling figures, said he has "no tolerance" for sexual assaults in the ranks and pledged to crack down on commanders who ignore the problem. Obama said he had spoken to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and ordered that officers "up and down the food chain" get the message.