A 25-year-old man was fatally shot and a 15-year-old girl was wounded in a double shooting in downtown Bel Air early Sunday — the first homicide in more than four years in the Harford County town, authorities said.
Responding to a call about shots fired shortly before 2 a.m., officers from the Bel Air Police Department and the Harford County Sheriff's Office found Derrick Maxey Jr. of Aberdeen dead in a rear parking lot at 115 N. Bond St.
A few minutes later, staff at the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air reported that a 15-year-old girl entered the emergency room with a gunshot wound in her leg. The girl was later transported by Maryland State Police Medevac helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
Police believe the girl was shot at the parking lot where Maxey was killed, which is a block away from Main Street in downtown Bel Air. The condition of the Harford County girl was not available.
Bel Air Chief Leo F. Matrangola said detectives do not know if the man and the girl were targeted, and they didn't appear to know each other. Police believe they were part of a group of people in the parking lot, he said.
"I think it's going to be a long investigation," Matrangola said. "We're searching for leads and talking with acquaintances of the victim and other witnesses who may have been at the scene."
According to court records, Maxey was charged with attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and related charges in January 2008 in Baltimore, but prosecutors dropped the case. Also that same month, he was charged in Baltimore with illegal handgun possession and, three months later, received an 18-month suspended sentence, court records show.
Violent crimes are rare in Bel Air, the chief said. The last homicide occurred in May 2006, when Michael R. Simmons stabbed Patrick J. Walker of Bel Air twice in the neck after Walker cut him off in traffic.
Simmons pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is now serving a 30-year prison sentence, court records show.
Detectives did not have a motive in the shooting. Anyone with information on the case can call 410-638-4500 or 410-836-5429.
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