ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A 43-year-old man accused of a mass shooting in Annapolis was ordered held without bail Tuesday after his attorney unsuccessfully argued he should be released because he needs treatment for PTSD incurred from serving in the Army.
The sister of shooting victim Christian Segovia said PTSD does not explain why Charles Robert Smith allegedly shot her brother and five other people Sunday evening, killing three.
"We wont stop until this is reported as a hate crime," Mariana Segovia said. "What happened here was not an act of PTSD. This was a murder."
Anne Arundel County District Court Judge Robert C. Wilcox ordered Smith to be held without bail while awaiting additional hearings and a trial.
The shooting happened Sunday evening in an apparent argument between neighbors over parking during a birthday party at a home three doors up Paddington Place from Smith's residence. Nicholas Mireles, 55, and his 27-year-old son Mario Mireles-Ruiz were killed alongside Christian Segovia. Three people are still hospitalized after surviving the shooting.
The mass shooting happened in two phases, police said.
First, Smith is accused of using a semi-auto pistol to kill Mario Mireles-Ruiz and Christian Segovia during a confrontation in front of Smith's house over a party guest at the Mireles house parking in front of Smith's curb.
Police say Smith then retreated into his home and began firing from inside with a rifle – killing Nicholas Mireles and wounding three others who were reacting to the first shooting.
Kathleen Kirchner, an attorney and family friend speaking for the grieving Mireles family said people were "begging" Smith to stop shooting while they were under fire from his position inside the house. Kirchner said Mario Mireles was a father of two who is expecting a third child.
“He was a really nice guy," she said. "I'm totally shocked this happened to him."
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