SNOW HILL -- A Pocomoke City man accused of murder tried to kill two men one night in May, not just the one he's charged with shooting to death, a new indictment alleges.A Worcester County grand jury has indicted Alexander Crippen on 10 criminal counts, including the murder of Reginald Jerome Handy Jr., and the attempted murder of Torrance Davis.
The day after the May 27 shooting, police found Crippen, 36, in a room at the Travelers Motel in Delmar, Md. He was arrested and charged with Handy's death, but neither court documents nor statements from law enforcement officials at the time indicated that there was another victim.
According to the indictment Crippen "did feloniously, willfully and of deliberate premeditated malice aforethought attempt to kill and murder Torrance Davis."
What's more, the indictment goes on to say, Crippen "shot at him with a gun, that created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury."
In court records for minor criminal charges, Davis, 27, lists both a Horntown, Va., P.O. box and a Pocomoke City address.
Crippen has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, concealing and transporting a handgun, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. Bond has been set at $1 million and a jury will determine his guilt or innocence during a two-day trial in September.
According to documents filed in Worcester County District Court, a verbal altercation broke out late in the evening of May 27 between Crippen and Handy. Witnesses told police that Crippen approached an individual sitting on the steps of a house in the 500 block of Laurel Avenue in Pocomoke when Handy came up to him and the two began to argue. Crippen then pulled out a handgun, fired several shots aimed at the victim. and fled the scene. A bullet hit Handy in the back and the 22-year-old Greenbush man was pronounced dead before paramedics could get him to the hospital.
Police later said that the attack was targeted and that Crippen and Handy had a history of not getting long. Davis's relationship to Crippen is not explained in the indictment.
According to Maryland court records, Davis has a history of minor brushes with the law. A 2002 second-degree assault conviction came with a $100 fine, and a similar arrest two years later cost him 90 days in jail. Davis also spent a month incarcerated for making a false statement to an officer in 2004 and another 10 days in 2006 for disorderly conduct. He is currently on probation for failing to pay child support.
