Howard County leaders address string of violent crimes committed in Columbia
Several Howard County leaders shared an update Thursday in the aftermath of a series of violent crimes in Columbia.
Howard County Police Chief Gregory Der, Superintendent William Barnes, and State's Attorney Richard Gibson joined County Executive Calvin Ball to address the concerns.
The updates come after a double shooting that killed a 16-year-old near The Mall in Columbia and after a man was accused of killing his grandparents in their Columbia home.
Shooting near Columbia mall
The shooting near the Mall in Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 22, left a 16-year-old dead and a 15-year-old injured in the parking lot outside Lidl, according to police.
The 16-year-old, identified as Michael Robertson, was a sophomore at Wilde Lake High School, the school's principal said. The 15-year-old who was injured in the shooting is a freshman at Oakland Mills High School, its principal confirmed.
Emmetson Zeah, 18, was arrested for the shooting and is being held without bail for murder charges.
At the time of the shooting, Zeah was out on bail after being charged with assault and attempted murder in a home invasion and attempted stabbing incident from November 2024. Court documents in that case show Zeah and another person tried to pull a classmate from his home and stab him.
According to police, Zeah is also facing attempted murder charges for a shooting in Columbia on Feb. 14. No injuries were reported, but shell casings were found at the scene.
It was revealed in a court document filed one day before the fatal shooting that Zeah violated his home monitoring agreement seven times in the week leading up to the incident. After he was taken into custody, records show he confessed to being at the mall and shooting both teens.
When asked if the casings in both shootings would match, Zeah said they would, according to court documents. Police later determined the bullets in both shootings had the same markings on the bottom.
The judge who denied Zeah's bail said there is clear evidence he is a danger to the public. He is due back in court in March.
Howard County Superintendent William Barnes outlined more details about Zeah's academic background.
After his arrest in December, the district placed Zeah in virtual learning before recently adding him to the Passage Program. This initiative helps students transition back to the classroom after being accused of a crime or serving time in a juvenile detention facility.
Mall security plan
The incident on Feb. 22 was the second fatal shooting at the mall in six months. In July, 17-year-old Angelo Little was shot and killed near the mall's food court.
His mother, Charell Wilson, spoke to WJZ in the days following her son's death. Wilson and her son moved to Columbia from East Baltimore in 2014 because she thought it would be safer.
"I lost my son to gun violence, which was something I wouldn't have even thought about in Columbia," Wilson said. "I will never have a grandchild [or] see him walk across the stage. They ripped that from me. Everything that made me happy in life is now gone."
Howard County Police say a new detail of officers are working at the mall. A captain was assigned to this unit, which will utilize uniformed and undercover officers, work with school resource officers to identify teens who may be involved in crimes, as well as work with mall security to monitor video footage.
"Howard County sees small fluctuations up and down in crime categories from year to year, so evaluations over a long period of time provides the most accurate trends. When we see an ongoing problem, we will take all necessary measures and strategies to address it," Howard County Police Chief Gregory Der said. "There is no silo. He has the autonomy to go anywhere he wants in the department."
Man accused of killing grandparents
On Monday, Feb. 24, a Columbia man was arrested for allegedly killing his grandparents.
DiAngelo Smith, 33, was charged with the murder of Jack Dee Stokes, 78, and Barbara Stokes, 65, after the two were found dead in their home.
Officers were called to the home in the 6300 block of Red Haven Road around 3 a.m., where a witness said Smith pointed a gun at his grandfather. A gunshot was heard shortly after, according to court records.
"The witness fled the residence and heard a second gunshot as he was fleeing," the charging documents said.
Smith was found holding a gun in a vehicle outside the home, police said. A minor was sitting in the passenger seat.
It is unclear what happened to the minor after Smith was removed from the vehicle and taken into custody.
Howard County sees rise in homicides
The two shootings brought Howard County's 2025 homicide court to four.
According to data from police, there were five homicides in the county in 2023 and nine in 2024.
In 2023, there were 141 cases of gun violence or firearm violations, data shows.
Crime was up 17.6% in Howard County in 2023, with a total of 5,705 crimes reported, according to the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy.
"This is a safe County, but when we have a state of incidents like the ones that we've just had, it raises everyone's concern," said Sherry Llewellyn, public affairs director for Howard County Police.
In 2024, a 17-year-old Howard High School student was charged with murder, prompting the Maryland school board to take emergency action. The board mandated that school leaders must be informed when a student commits a serious crime.
After the latest shootings, County Executive Ball said his office was working with police to create solutions to rising crime moving forward, affirming his commitment to make residents feel safe.
"Whenever there's a violent incident, people's feeling of safety is going to be shaken," Ball said.
Ball said there were more than 100,000 calls or messages to the crisis hotline in the last year. He says this underscores the need for more mental health resources as well as a county wide emphasis on preventing domestic homicides.
"More than half of the homicide victims during the last year were killed by a family member," Ball said.
County leaders also say while it may appear there are more crimes being committed, the reality is that more are being reported. In 2022, Howard County Police transition to National Incident Based Reporting System, which it say reports every crime committed in one incident.
