ROCKVILLE, Md. — Video of a controversial shooting outside a Rockville gun store early Tuesday is being used to try to prove that the now-jailed man shown firing his gun at an undercover police car was acting in self-defense.
Attorney David Martella says his client, Andy Raymond, was put in a "crazy situation" where two “good guys” thought the other was a “bad guy." But Montgomery County District Court Judge Patrick Mays said Raymond should stay in jail without bail while the justice system sorts it out.
The video in question comes from Raymond's business, Engage Armaments gun store in Rockville. Police say the encounter around 12:20 a.m. Tuesday nearly got someone killed.
In the video, an unmarked police SUV is slowly cruising a gun store parking lot just as Raymond's lawyer says he had gone to his car without his cell phone. After the unmarked SUV pulls away, Raymond can be seen running toward it.
Raymond is then seen putting his hands up a split second before pulling a gun and jumping out of the way of the SUV coming toward him. Raymond fires the gun a split second after the SUV passes him.
“This video shows my client running after a vehicle he thinks is full of bad guys ready to break into his store," Martella said. "And that vehicle turns around and drives at a high rate of speed right at him. My client puts up his hands to get that vehicle to stop."
Martella noted that the police officer could have activated his emergency lights.
"But for some reason, in the heat of the moment, he did not do that," Martella said. "Instead, he accelerated and drove in the direction of my client [who] had to jump out on the way to avoid being hit by that vehicle.”
Martella said Raymond was afraid for his life and the speeding vehicle should be considered "deadly force" that was directed at the gun store owner. He added that the incident happened as Raymond and other gun store owners in the area had been put on alert by authorities to a spree of dangerous smash and grab robberies targeting gun stores in the region.
After saying he viewed the video, Judge Mays asked why Raymond didn't go inside and call 911, rather than confronting the car. Mays also noted Raymond fired after the car was past him and the immediate threat was over.
In response, Martella pointed to video of another car seen apparently casing the gun store the night before. He said Raymond had been in contact with police and was so concerned he had been sleeping at the store.
In asking for bail and release from confinement, Martella said Raymond's mother and aunt are both retired Montgomery County police officers and his store has many police as customers. The attorney added that Raymond is well known in the law enforcement community and handles the resale of retired police firearms for agencies including the Frederick County Sheriff's department.
"He's a friend to every law-abiding citizen and every police officer in Montgomery County," Martella told Mays.
However, Mays ordered Raymond held without bail pending a trial for first degree assault and handgun charges. The judge said Raymond could have just as easily mistakenly shot at a motorist making a U-turn in the parking lot. Mays said that amounts to a potential danger to the community he isn’t willing to risk.