At approximate 12:30 pm today, shots were fired at Harper’s Farm Road and Cedar Lane. According to 911 transmissions, the activity may have been at multiple locations in Columbia. Two 911 calls indicate that another location involved activity at Cedar Lane and Cedar Wood.
Early reports indicate that an unidentified individual was shooting at a truck. There are no reported injuries. HCPD is looking for a single shooter.
Emergency vehicles are reported in the Swansfield community. Harpers’s Farm Road is blocked off by HCPD vehicles in both directions. The blockade is in the area of the Harper’s Choice Village Center, which is preventing access to the shopping center.
Several residents have reported that Wilde Lake High School went into lock down mode because of the active shooter in the community. We are awaiting confirmation from Howard County Public Schools.
On a Howard County Police Department Facebook post, recently, HCPD and the Howard County Executive’s Office proclaimed that violent crime is down eight percent in the past five years. The post says, “Social media has a funny way of spreading false information not based on fact.” While that statement may be true, social media is sometimes faster at spreading fact than the HCPD as we at Howard Courier have been learning.
In this incident, locals reported on the shooting through NextDoor, the hyper-local social media platform specializing in neighborhood concerns, before prior to HCPD notifying the public.
HCPD publishes a Daily Crime Bulletin on their website and Facebook. The bulletin from the weekend, has not been published and it’s now Tuesday afternoon.
On Friday, there were shots fired in the Wilde Lake / Town Center area of Columbia. This reporter saw the police presence from a distance, then later saw reports on NextDoor. So far, the community has heard nothing from HCPD.
The Howard Courier received a report from a Columbia resident, William Katzen, who was on the scene. He wrote, “About 3:30 – 3:45 pm this afternoon, was walking the dog and we had just turned the corner from Twin Rivers onto Governor Warfield Parkway when I heard four gunshots – on right after another. Within two to three seconds I witnesed a young man running up Twin Rivers and crossed over Warfield Parkway and go into the townhouse development on the other corner of the of the intersection. No, these were not fireworks. These were very, very loud – scary loud. And none of these were from a vehicle backfiring. I called the police immediately when I got home and give the best description I could. The gentleman I spoke with said that they had already received a few calls about this.”
On February 4th, there was a report of a shooting in West Friendship. Although no government official has denied that there was an incident, after contacting HCPD, Howard County Fire and Rescue Services, and the County Executive’s Office, everyone avoided answering the questions from this reporter.
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