By Phillip Jackson
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A Baltimore County Police officer responding to a call of a shooting and explosion in Woodlawn earlier this month arrived to find a house engulfed in flames and a suspect shooting at him as soon as he stepped out of his police cruiser, beginning what appears to be an intense and lethal volley of gunfire, according to police body camera footage released Friday.
The officer, identified only by his last name of Irwin, pulled into the neighborhood yells “Drop the Gun. Drop the Gun. Drop the gun” before taking cover behind nearby cars. He then fires one shot and the suspect drops.
The gunman, identified by police as 56-year-old Everton Brown, appeared to be beside his truck as other officers arrive and more than a dozen shots can be heard. When the gunfire dies down, video shows officers dragging Brown away from his truck as a house’s electrical circuits crackle from the fire about 20 feet away from the mayhem.
Baltimore County released the May 8 body camera footage of Irwin and other officers nearly two weeks after police say Brown went on a shooting spree, killing three people and injuring one. Residents and police, backed by court records, say Brown had harassed and threatened his neighbors for years, and police said they fielded more than 120 calls to 911 from the man, often with delusional conspiracy theories.
Baltimore County police, as a matter of policy, do not include first names of their officers when releasing information to the public.
Another portion of the video released Friday shows an officer Norton arriving on the scene and asking “Where’s he at?” three times.
A resident on camera tells him that Brown is by his red truck and then Norton fires multiple shots toward Brown and the truck.
The officers then move towards Brown, who isn’t moving as officers shout for him to show his hands.
“Hold on, I got him,” Norton says. He then grabs Brown by the arm, asking him to roll over, only to end up pulling him across the street as his body his unresponsive.
Baltimore County police have said Brown shot his neighbors, Sara Alacote, 37, and Sagar Ghimire, 40, who were both found dead outside their townhomes. Another victim, Ismael Quintanilla, 41, was killed after being shot and stabbed by Brown, police said.
A fourth person was shot but survived.
Officers said they later recovered a handgun, a knife and several homemade explosive devices outside of Brown’s home. Four officers shot at Brown, 56, the video shows.
On Friday, police also released 911 call recordings from neighbors in the 7500 block of Maury Road who said they heard an explosion in a Woodlawn townhouse, saw fire and then noticed a man walking the streets with a gun. The combined accounts portray a chaotic scene as neighbors express fear on the emergency calls and at least one person can be seen lying on the street, apparently shot by Brown.
“I see a man standing in the door posed with a weapon in his hand, ... it jarred me out of bed and I’m about three or four doors down,” an unidentified woman said on the 911 call.
The woman was not able to describe the gunman.
“Once I saw him with the gun, I came back in the house and locked my door,” she said.
The woman continues to provide a location of the incident.
“Oh my God. All we heard is pop, pop pop and the house blew up!” the woman said during the emergency call.
The killings followed years of abuse at the hands of Brown, several residents of the area said. Neighbors said that although peace orders against Brown were filed, police did not do enough to curb Brown’s actions.
©2021 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.