LAUREL, Md. — A 23-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday after Laurel Police said he shot and wounded an officer as a tactical team entered an apartment to serve an arrest warrant for attempted murder.
Around 6:05 a.m. officers were sent to the 100 block of Bryan Court, according to Laurel Police, to serve a warrant. According to the police, a group of officers from Laurel's police Emergency Response Team breached the door and then held their positions just outside an apartment while announcing their presence and demanding the suspect come out. The maneuver is called "breach and hold," according to Laurel Police Chief Russ Hamill.
Police say an officer was hit in the arm by a single gunshot fired by Christopher Grayson Simms. Hamill said that officers did not fire back at the suspect and de-escalated the situation.
Witnesses who did not want to be identified said they heard individuals shouting "open up, open up" during the incident where the officer was shot.
The steel door to the apartment appeared to have been damaged by the police team's entry.
"That officer heroically maintained his position after being shot," Hammill said. "We did not deploy deadly force out there. In fact, our officers de-escalated the situation with the defendant. They attempted to calm him and assure him that he would not be harmed or injured in any way and he was not."
The wounded officer is a 35-year-old man who has been with the department for six years, Hamill said. He was taken to Baltimore's Shock Trauma Center and later released with a wound to the arm, police said.
The suspect faces several charges including:
- Attempted 1st Degree Murder
- Attempted 2nd Degree Murder
- Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence
- First Degree Assault
- Second Degree Assault
- Intentionally causing physical injury to a law enforcement officer
- Reckless endangerment
Simms was also previously charged with Attempted 1st and 2nd Degree Murder, Assault, and firearms-related charges for a shooting that took place at 1 p.m. on April 11. Hamill said Simms is accused in that incident of firing eight or nine shots in a busy area on Bowie Road, wounding one man.