News Releases

Germantown Man Leads Police on Multi-State Pursuit

For Immediate Release: Monday, July 4, 2022

Gaithersburg, MD - A 26-year-old Germantown man is in custody after leading law enforcement on a pursuit that ended in VA.

On July 4, 2022, at approximately 9:20 a.m., 5th District patrol officers responded to the 11300 block of Hawks Ridge Terrace in Germantown, for the report of a male shooting a rifle at people. The suspect, Frederick Njihia, shot multiple times at a WSSC worker, striking his vehicle several times, and also shot at a separate male standing next to his truck. Neither were injured. 

A description of Njihia’s vehicle, a blue Honda Civic, was provided to officers. A short time later, a Montgomery County Officer, along with a police officer candidate riding in the vehicle, were traveling on Germantown Rd. towards Frederick Rd., when they observed the suspect vehicle.

Njihia then shot at the marked police cruiser, flattening the cruiser’s front tire. The officer relayed the information and a pursuit was initiated. Montgomery County officers pursued the Honda onto I-270 southbound, heading towards VA, where Virginia State Police were notified and continued the pursuit, eventually conducting a successful pursuit intervention technique (PIT) maneuver in Fairfax, VA.

Njihia was arrested and transported to a Fairfax hospital with non-life-threatening injuries sustained as a result of crashing his vehicle, after the PIT maneuver. A .223 rifle was recovered from Njihia’s vehicle.

Njihia will be charged, via a Montgomery County criminal arrest warrant, with four counts of attempted murder and first-degree assault with a firearm. He is currently being held in Virginia for traffic related charges and will be extradited to Montgomery County.

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Release ID: 22-341
Media Contact: S.D. Goff 
Categories: officer-involved