Press Release on January 5th Pocomoke shooting incident is available for viewing on the Pocomoke Police or Worcester County Sheriff's office Facebook pages.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Pocomoke-City-Police-Dept-100076911507861/
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Press Release on January 5th Pocomoke shooting incident is available for viewing on the Pocomoke Police or Worcester County Sheriff's office Facebook pages.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Pocomoke-City-Police-Dept-100076911507861/
Press Release - Theft from vehicle arrest
Over the last several weeks, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and the Pocomoke Police Department have received several complaints from citizens in and around the Pocomoke City area, regarding to the theft of items from their vehicles. The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office worked diligently with the community and the Pocomoke Police Department to develop suspect information. On October 5, 2024, at approximately 9:00 P.M., the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a residence on Bypass Road for suspicious male, later to be identified as Tahquon Moses, Age 31, of Pocomoke, Maryland. A short time later, a Deputy located Moses near the Walmart in Pocomoke. Mr. Moses was found to be in possession of stolen property and was subsequently placed under arrest.
Theft $100.00 - $1,500.00
Rogue and Vagabond
Mr. Moses was subsequently committed to the Worcester County Jail on a $3,500.00 bond. Sheriff Crisafulli wants to remind our citizens of the importance of keeping your vehicles locked and removing any items of value from your vehicle. This investigation and arrest was an example of our community and law enforcement working together.
Crippen is charged with the first- and second-degree attempted murder of Davis, along with first- and second-degree assault charges and other related offenses.
Deputy State's Attorney Michael Farlow and Crippen's attorney, Arthur McGreevy, presented opening statements before Judge Richard R. Bloxom before the state began to call its witnesses.
Davis testified that on the night of the shooting he heard a "boom, then pop, pop, pop, pop."
Police found a Bushmaster assault rifle, AR-15, at 503 Laurel St., about one block away from where the shooting took place.
Davis also testified that he had been at the scene of the shooting for about 10 minutes when, he said, Crippen "just started shooting."
"I think he emptied his clip ... maybe six or seven shots," said Davis. "I seen the fire come out of the gun."
An officer from the Pocomoke City Police Department, who was one of the first officers on the scene, testified that when she asked Davis to tell her who shot Handy, he was unable to.
"As I was tending to the victim, I said, 'If you know who did this,' you need to tell me," the officer testified, indicating she lowered her voice so people standing in the crowd could not hear her. "He just kept saying 'R.J., breathe' ... he didn't answer me or say anything in response to the question."
Crippen was previously charged with the shooting death of Reginald Jerome Handy Jr., Davis's cousin, who was found dead at the scene the night of the events now being discussed at trial. But the charge of murder was dismissed at a pretrial motions hearing last week, leaving the lesser attempted murder and assault charges, which are still felonies.
Harmon is being held at the Worcester County Jail on $20,000 bond, police chief J.D. Ervin said in a statement. In the statement, Ervin said Harmon is a “person of interest in other criminal activities and thefts from motor vehicles” and said police are investigating further.
Todd said the victim has been identified but declined to give the boy's name. Todd said the victim's body was found behind a home and showed no signs of life. He said the Worceter County Bureau of Investigation and Pocomoke City Police are investigating. Todd said it was the third homicide this year in Pocomoke.
Pocomoke City District 3 Councilman Bruce Morrison said the body was found across the street from the town's middle school. As a result, the town's elementary, middle, and high schools were put on lockdown for a brief time as classes were about to be let out, as a matter of protocol.
"It's getting scary," he said, noting the incident occured near his home. "I don't want to see things like this happening my town. I'm very concerned about it. I'm going to talk to the City Manager about it, and we're going to see what we can do about getting it under wraps."
Kudos to Councilman Morrison! I hope he will continue to work on this and all crime in the wonderful city of Pocomoke. The citizens deserve to know. The citizens NEED to know about ALL crime in the area. How can they fight something they do not have a full grasp on?
Most of the people attending the meeting, including members of the City Council, police, candidates for office and area residents, were in agreement that action needed to be taken to prevent crime. They thought that there would be better attendance at the meetings if residents were aware of the action.
Carroll Overholt, a retired Maryland State Police officer and candidate for sheriff, spoke out in favor of the crime watches, saying that the police can't solve the problems alone. "We don't have enough police," he said.
However, James Jones, an area resident, said that there is talk in the streets about what is going on at community meetings like the one at New Macedonia. "We have their attention," he said.
Dean Guy, a Pocomoke property owner, said that he has called police about the drug problem he sees, and has even offered to allow the police use a vacant house to observe the area. He said he thinks crime levels are getting worse.
But Ervin said statistics show the crime rate is down, and figures on crime compiled by the FBI back up that assertion. The statistics show Pocomoke police took reports on 28 violent crimes occur in 2009, compared to 31 such crimes in 2008 and 29 in 2007. Police in the city recorded 216 instances of property crime in 2009, compared to 239 property crimes in 2008 and 243 such cases of burglary, theft and arson in 2007.
Council member Bruce Morrison called drugs a problem that will never go away. He said that he gets weekly reports about arrests and then sees where the crimes are not processed. "They are let go," he said. He added that he has talked to people in his district about it, and that no one wants to get involved.
The discussion turned to neighborhoods, but Councilman Robert Clarke called the entire town of Pocomoke City his neighborhood.
The next community meeting is planned for Saturday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at New Macedonia Church.
The state police officers “approached four loitering suspects,” charging documents state, and “they attempted to walk away when spoken to.” As police were interviewing the men and checking for weapons, police said, “one of the individuals pushed the trooper’s hand away, which led to a full search.” Police said they found crack cocaine “on him and in the immediate area of the other suspects.”
Arrested were James Edward Douglas, 20, of Bank Street in Pocomoke City; Mar-Tel L. Blake, 20; Jarren K. Hinmon, 21; and David D. Dickerson, 19. All four men were charged with crack cocaine possession, police said, and Hinmon also had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, issued in May and related to charges of armed robbery and assault. Hinmon was held on $50,000 bond. Court records show Douglas was also charged with malicious destruction of property.