Crofton, Maryland



From the Baltimore Sun of July 15, 2004

Shooting victim may have been a burglar



The victim of a shooting Tuesday afternoon in Crofton apparently was shot multiple times after he was caught burglarizing a home by one of its occupants, Anne Arundel County police said yesterday.



Police had not released the name of the victim, whom they described as a 40-year-old white male. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and was in serious but stable condition yesterday morning, police said in a news release. An updated condition was unavailable yesterday evening.



Police said the man was suspected in several other burglaries in the immediate area but that he had not been charged.



Sgt. Jim Cifala, the on-call public information officer, said last night that victims' names are not released if they are suspected of a crime. He said he had no additional details on the shooting.



Police officials were unavailable yesterday afternoon to discuss the incident.



Officers who responded to the incident about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday found the shooting victim in the parking lot of a nearby medical building, where he had collapsed.



The shooting occurred in the 1400 block of Defense Highway. Police declined to identify the occupant of the home in the news release, saying he had not been charged with a crime.



At the conclusion of the investigation, the state's attorney's office will determine if the shootings were justified, police said in a news release.