Police Arrived

Man caught in chase faces drug charges Anne Arundel County sheriff's deputies trying to serve a warrant in Annapolis instead arrested another man on drug charges, the sheriff's office said yesterday. The deputies were looking for Deon Mitchell Brown on Clay Street about 5 p.m. Oct. 3 when they saw someone they thought looked like him and approached. The man fled but was quickly caught after a chase. He identified himself as Samuel Joyce at the county police department's Southern District station, where deputies said they recovered 12 rocks of crack cocaine from him. Joyce was charged with drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Howard County police are investigating a shooting early yesterday in a Columbia apartment that left a man with an injured thumb.Police received a call about 2: 45 a.m. that reported a shooting in the 5600 block of Stevens Forest Road, said Sgt. Morris Carroll, a county police spokesman.When police arrived, Irvin Moore, 22, told them that three men had entered his apartment, masked their faces with their shirts and began shooting."He stated he did not know the suspects," Carroll said.Police said a woman who was in the apartment with Moore escaped out the back door.

A Baltimore man was accused of slitting his girlfriend's throat before slashing his own in an arrest warrant issued yesterday charging him with attempted murder, county police said.The couple remained hospitalized yesterday, both expected to recover from their wounds from the Tuesday afternoon incident, which was watched by horrified neighbors near the woman's home in Odenton.Authorities would not divulge details of their conditions.Carolyn Ann Brown, 47, of the 1200 block of Queen Anne Ave. was being treated at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

A 6-year-old Hanover boy died early yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital hours after a car whose driver was asleep at the wheel ran head-on into the car the boy was riding in on Telegraph Road in Odenton. A second vehicle rammed into the passenger side of the boy's car, county police said.Lionel Montgomery of the 7200 block of Race Road suffered head injuries in the crash. He died just after 3 a.m., police said.Police said Rodger M. Mollon, 24, of the 8000 block of Covington Ave. in Glen Burnie was heading south on Telegraph Road near Harvey Avenue just before 5 p.m. when his 1995 Mercury Villager drifted across the double yellow line and rammed head-on into a 1990 Ford Thunderbird driven by Katherine L. Slappy, 26. Her son, Lionel, was in the front passenger seat, police said.

Anne Arundel County police arrested a Calvert County man Tuesday and charged him with trying to break into severalAnnapolis apartments in the Claiborne Place complex in the 100 block of Hearne Road, police said.Terence Haywood Coby, 41, was charged with attempted burglary, possession of burglary tools and destruction of property. He also was charged with first-degree burglary when police found an outstanding warrant against him. Claiborne resident Verdell Smith, 76, awoke in his bedroom to the sounds of someone trying to pry open his bedroom window just after 5: 30 a.m., Smith told police.

For the second time in less than a month, someone has fired shots at a mobile home in southern Howard County, and police are investigating whether the incidents are related.Howard County police say someone fired 10 shotgun rounds at a mobile home in Savage early yesterday morning, injuring a dog.Police arrived at the Ev Mar Trailer Park in the 9300 block of Gorman Road at 2: 30 a.m after neighbors alerted them to gunfire in the area.Samuel Maitlend Moore, 53, his girlfriend, Linda Kay Zajaczkowski, 25, and their two children were sleeping when the shots were fired, police said.

A Glen Burnie gas station clerk who was shoved to the floor during a robbery Wednesday chased his assailant across the street, tackled him and held him for county police.Mohammad A. Rumman, 48, told police a man approached his booth at the Crown station in the 7600 block of Quarterfield Road about 11: 30 p.m, knocked on the glass, and asked for cigarettes.When Rumman opened the booth door to give the cigarettes to the man, the man pushed the door open, grabbed Rumman around the neck, pushed him to the floor and reached into the cash drawer, grabbing an undisclosed amount of money, police said.

County police arrested a Severn man on drug charges Friday less than a block from his home.Officers were called to Stewarton Court and Stillmeadows Drive about 8: 20 p.m. by neighbors complaining of drug dealing on the corner. When police arrived, they saw three men.Police said one man dropped a plastic sandwich bag behind a flowerpot. Officers searched him and found another sandwich bag containing suspected marijuana, along with a small scale and $395, police said. Police seized the items and the sandwich bag, which also contained suspected marijuana, that had been dropped behind the flower pot, police said.

A Taneytown man was being held on $200,000 bond Friday at the Carroll County Detention Center after being charged Thursday with first-degree assault.Witnesses at the Taneytown American Legion gave police the name of the alleged assailant and said he had been seated at the bar with another man just before one punch was thrown.When police arrived, the first man was gone and the second on the floor, unconscious and bleeding.Wayne Wilson was flown by state police MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was treated and discharged Friday.

Police arrived at Union National Bank in Westminster on Saturday about one minute after receiving a call about a robbery, but a man wearing sunglasses and a dark knit cap got away.The suspect passed a note demanding money to a teller at about 11: 29 a.m., police said. After receiving an undisclosed amount, the man fled the West Main Street branch.Witnesses said the robber was a thin white man, about 32 years old and 6 feet tall. He had a mustache and was wearing a red-and-black flannel coat.

After a lull in July, violence returned to the Inner Harbor during the weekend when a man and a boy were shot during a scuffle between what appears to be rival gang members inside one of the pavilions. The incident occurred just as a concert in the amphitheater was letting out, and though police arrived within minutes, the gunman apparently got away in the rush of people fleeing the scene. Further complicating matters, the victims themselves have made apprehending a suspect difficult by refusing to cooperate with investigators.

I have to say I feel for Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested last week by police acting on a report of a burglary at his house. Turns out the "burglar" was Mr. Gates himself, whom a neighbor had spotted struggling to unlock a stuck front door at his house after returning from a trip abroad. When police arrived a few minutes later, after Mr. Gates had gained entry to his place, things somehow went wacko. Earlier this week, I reported on The Sun's editorial page blog (baltimoresun.

Residents hear gunshots. It stands to reason they want to know what happened. It's not an easy task. People near Canton Square woke earlier this week to the sound of men arguing. They heard three rapid pops, and some looked out their windows and saw two men walking down the street, one holding a gun. One person looked in the newspaper the next day and, finding nothing, e-mailed The Baltimore Sun and then sought help from the Baltimore Guide. That prompted calls to Baltimore police and an e-mail exchange that ended with more confusion than answers.

Woman, 62, assaulted, robbed at Westfield mall Police were searching for a man who robbed a woman Monday outside Westfield Annapolis mall, according to police. A 62-year-old woman told police she was putting merchandise into the trunk of her car just before 1 p.m. outside Nordstrom when someone approached and struck her in the head with a heavy object and she fell, county police said. The robber fled with a laptop computer, an iPod and jewelry, police said. The man was last seen leaving the parking garage area and walking around the north corner of Nordstrom.

Sketch released in killing City detectives released this week a sketch of a man they want to question in connection with a homicide in Remington, police said. Detectives did not release a name and police would not say whether the person is a suspect. "We want this guy for questioning," said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman, who encouraged anyone who believes they might know the man to call police at 410-396-2100. Police found the homicide victim, Nancy Schmidt, 74, about 5:30 a.m. April 21. She had been stabbed repeatedly in an upstairs room of her Remington home.

Man caught in chase faces drug charges Anne Arundel County sheriff's deputies trying to serve a warrant in Annapolis instead arrested another man on drug charges, the sheriff's office said yesterday. The deputies were looking for Deon Mitchell Brown on Clay Street about 5 p.m. Oct. 3 when they saw someone they thought looked like him and approached. The man fled but was quickly caught after a chase. He identified himself as Samuel Joyce at the county police department's Southern District station, where deputies said they recovered 12 rocks of crack cocaine from him. Joyce was charged with drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A man who was shot on a Southwest Baltimore street and sought help from a police officer stationed two blocks away at the home of Mayor Sheila Dixon remained hospitalized yesterday, officials said. The shooting occurred on Swann Avenue and Rokeby Road shortly before midnight Monday, according to police spokesman Sterling Clifford. Two men were passing through the intersection when a pedestrian opened fire on the car, striking the passenger, police said. The driver called 911 but was unable to give police a precise location because he was unfamiliar with the area, Clifford said.

An Annapolis man was arrested yesterday after attempted robberies at a home, a church and a hotel in the city, and the accosting of a hotel clerk, Anne Arundel County police said. About 1:40 a.m., police arrived at a home in the 1000 block of E. College Parkway. A man, 19, told officers that a man had attempted to enter his bedroom. The resident ran to another room and called police. About 1:45 a.m., officers arrived at Quality Inn Hotel in the 1500 block of Whitehall Road. A female clerk, 23, told police that a man had demanded money.

Baltimore County: Crime Two charged in Overlea man's death Baltimore County police arrested and charged two men in the shooting death Friday night of a 31-year-old Overlea man. Police said Anthony McPhatter, was killed about 11:45 p.m. in the 6100 block of Twilight Court. Police arrived at the scene of the shooting and saw a car speed away. Moments after officers gave chase, the car crashed, and police arrested Anthony F. Newman Jr., 25, of Clinton, Prince George's County, and Dante L. Stewart, 31, of Waldorf, Charles County.

A 20-year-old Elkridge man was in fair condition yesterday after he was shot in the parking lot of Bennigan's restaurant on Snowden River Parkway on Wednesday evening, according to Howard County police. Harsh Thakkar of the 6400 block of Wesley Lane reported that two men robbed him of cash, shot him in the torso and then fled as he was getting out of his car to have dinner. When police arrived on scene about 6:30 p.m., Thakkar was in his silver Toyota Camry. A police spokeswoman said that detectives do not have details about the attackers because emergency responders quickly took Thakkar by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he underwent surgery.