News Releases

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Officers from the 4th District have arrested and charged Jose Canales, age 32, of Layhill Road in Silver Spring, with possession of a handgun, discharging a gun in an urban area, and reckless endangerment for his actions on the night of August 21.

On Friday, August 21, at approximately 10:33 p.m., officers responded to a commercial area parking lot located in the 11300 block of Elkin Street in downtown Wheaton for a report of the sound of shots.

Officers responded to the area and noted that there were numerous people seated outdoors at a restaurant in the block. Officers were met with a witness, who stated that he observed the suspect crouch behind a vehicle and then he heard the sound of a gunshot from the area where the suspect was crouching. Officers located a .40 caliber spent shell casing on the ground next to the vehicle's rear passenger-side tire. The witness pointed out a man walking on Elkin Street at University Boulevard West as the man he believed to be the suspect.

The man turned onto an alley in the 2300 block of University Boulevard West. As officers approached the male he discarded a black bag that he had been carrying. Officers stopped the man and identified him as Canales.

Officers searched Canales' discarded bag and located a .40 caliber loaded handgun.

Canales was arrested and transported to the Central Processing Unit.