Police in Anne Arundel County are working on the assumption that the Thursday afternoon shooting of a 29-year-old man was not a random attack, as it had initially appeared, but rather a deliberate deed against the victim.

"Detectives are looking into the possibility that this was not a random act," Justin Mulcahy, a police spokesman, said this morning. He noted that the victim, whom he did not identify, "is not being cooperative."

The man told police that he was walking on a wooded path near some apartment buildings on the 100 block of Warwickshire Lane in Glen Burnie when he heard shots fired. He began to run and was shot three times, he told police.

He was taken to Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. Since his name is withheld, his condition is not available.

Police dogs and a helicopter were used to search the area of the shooting, but no one was found.

nick.madigan@baltsun.com