The reward offered for help in arresting the suspect in the slaying of a Laurel salesclerk on Valentine's Day has reached $12,000, and homicide detectives hope a witness who saw the man flee the scene will come forward.
Angelia Hamilton, 22, was shot after a man walked into the Car Tel Store where she worked in the 3400 block of Fort Meade Road shortly before 12:30 p.m. and asked Mrs. Hamilton to show him some cellular telephones.
As Mrs. Hamilton was showing the devices, the man suddenly pulled out a handgun of undisclosed caliber and shot her several times, police said. She died nearly six hours later at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
At least one witness saw the man run out the door, jump into a car and drive off. After the shooting, another
witness, whom police described as a white male between 50 and 55 years old with gray hair, told a woman at the scene not to walk in the direction taken by the gunman, said Detective Dave McDonald of the Anne Arundel County Police Department's homicide unit.
The woman told homicide investigators that the unidentified witness told her, "Don't go back there. He's got a gun," Detective McDonald said. The witness is "slightly heavy but not fat" and stands about 6 feet 4 inches tall, he said.
The gunman did not take anything from the store, and police do not know why he shot Mrs. Hamilton.
On Monday, police released a composite, computer-generated photograph of the man based on the description given by one of the witnesses. He was described as a black male between 5 feet 4 and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He is in his late teens to early 20s, has a thin build and medium to dark complexion. He was last seen wearing a black cap, a black coat and baggy jeans.
The getaway car was a late-model, four-door, silver blue Ford Crown Victoria, police said. It had a half-vinyl roof that was a darker shade of blue than the body of the car, Detective McDonald said.
The Metro Crime Stoppers has put $2,000 into the reward fund. That amount comes in addition to the $5,000 Cellular One Communications has contributed and the $5,000 offered by Car Tel Communications.
Car Tel is an authorized dealer for Cellular One, but is not owned by the company.