GERMANTOWN, Md. — A 28-year-old man accused of shooting two employees at a Topgolf entertainment complex in Germantown was caught with $10k in cash after fleeing to Ocean City, Maryland in an Uber, according to testimony heard in court Thursday.
Suspect Cyprian Nwaigwe was with his girlfriend and baby daughter at the time, a prosecutor said. Nwaigwe was arrested at 2 a.m. Wednesday by Montgomery County Police who’d tracked him to Ocean City a little more than 24 hours after a shooting at the golfing center.
Nwaigwe, known as “Mook” to friends according to police, had $10,000 in cash on him, but no gun was recovered, a prosecutor said.
According to Montgomery County Police, the shooting early Tuesday came as a security guard was trying to get Nwaigwe and three friends, including two women, to leave at closing time resulting in a confrontation shortly after midnight.
Nwaigwe is accused of shooting the 23-year-old security guard in the back. The same bullet went on to hit an 18-year-old Topgolf employee in the knee, police said. Nwaigwe allegedly fled in a car.
His attorney, Thomas Maronick Jr., said Nwaigwe works as a Certified Nursing Assistant in area nursing homes and has no criminal record.
"These allegations don’t fit the character of the person he’s been," Maronick said.
Nwaigwe begged the court for home detention saying his daughter needs him.
But a prosecutor pointed out he’s failed to appear in court 13 times for traffic charges and the gun used in the shooting is still missing.
Judge Marina Lolley Sabett ordered Nwaigwe held without bail, citing the missing gun and saying the shooting was a stranger-on-stranger incident.