News Releases

Montgomery County Police Investigation Following Officer Involved Shooting

For Immediate Release: Saturday, July 17, 2021

Gaithersburg, MD – On Friday, July 16, at approximately 9:15 p.m., the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center (ECC) received a call for a trespasser at the McDonald’s, located at 18273 Flower Hill Way, in Gaithersburg, MD.

 

The caller stated that a customer had ordered food and was refusing to pay or move his vehicle from the drive-through lane. A 6^th District officer responded to the scene and approached a white Honda CRV parked in the drive-through lane. The 21-year-old male was the sole occupant of the vehicle, located in the driver’s seat.

 

The officer immediately observed a handgun on the front passenger seat and called for back-up. Additional officers arrived, secured the area and evacuated McDonald’s staff.  During the armed standoff, MCP officers attempted to deescalate the situation by negotiating with the driver for approximately thirty minutes. Circumstances that are still under investigation led to officers firing their weapons and the driver was shot.

 

Several officers on scene immediately rendered aid to the driver until Montgomery County Fire and Rescue arrived on scene and transported him to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

 

The incident is being investigated by detectives from the Major Crimes Division and the Howard County State's Attorney's Office will review the officer-involved shooting at the conclusion of the investigation. With any officer-involved shooting, the involved officers have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

An established agreement between the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office stipulates that when an officer-involved shooting involving injury or death occurs in one county, the other county’s State’s Attorney’s Office will review the event.

Montgomery County Chief of Police, Marcus Jones has scheduled a press conference at Police Headquarters for Monday, July 19 at a time to be determined.

# # #

Release ID: 21-266
Media Contact: Shiera D. Goff 
Categories: press-releases