Fmr. Correctional Officer Linked To Maryland Shootings
BELTSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- Major developments. A serial shooter is now in police custody. His alleged targets were believed to be chosen at random.
Christie Ileto reports on the man accused of terrorizing local highways.
Hong Young, 35, is a former state corrections officer who left his job last year. He was living with his mother in Beltsville at the time police say he went on this two week shooting spree.
Ten guns, including a semi-automatic pistol, and rounds of ammunition were seized from 35-year-old Hong Young's Beltsville home--hours after he's arrested for a brazen shooting spree.
It was ballistics from a handgun that police say linked him to four shootings, starting last month at an Arundel Mills gas station, then, a mall in Columbia, and Tuesday, opening fire at a landscaping truck on the ICC before shooting a building at NSA headquarters.
"He was hiding in plain sight. He was driving the same vehicle, he was caught on surveillance camera and the vehicle was pretty widespread," said Lt. T.J. Smith, Anne Arundel County Police Department.
Shell casings and a gun were discovered when detectives pulled Young over Tuesday night after spotting his Lincoln Town Car near the first shooting.
His mother sobbed hysterically at the news of his arrest.
"I say, 'He don't come home last night.' He my good son," she said.
Detectives say all the weapons recovered at the home were legally owned by Young, but the motive for all the shootings remains a mystery.
"Very shocking. Because it's so close. I'm the next house down the street," said Ray Harry, neighbor.
"I actually never said anything to him. He never seemed to be a threat or anything because I'd be out here washing my car or something like that and he'd just walk by," said neighbor Don Johnson.
Neighbors now try to make sense of what prompted a man who lived so close to act so dangerously.
Investigators say a fifth shooting at a Walmart in Anne Arundel County is also connected, but has not been immediately linked through ballistics.
Young is facing attempted first-degree murder, among other charges.