One dead, one hurt in Newburg shooting

Police are seeking Waldorf man

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The man charged with second-degree murder in the shooting is still at large, police said.

Before the shooting, one of the victims, a 24-year-old Newburg man, was involved in a parking lot fight with Terrell Lamont Thompson, 35, of Waldorf, police reported. When the Newburg man’s friend, Michael Lamont Beverly, 33, stepped in to break up the fight, Thompson pulled out a handgun and shot both victims, said Diane Richardson, spokeswoman for the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. Thompson then drove away in a blue, four-door sedan.

Police believe the parking lot was crowded with people at the time of the incident, Richardson said.

Police did not identify the 24-year-old victim because he is a witness.

Personnel from the Newburg Volunteer Rescue Squad and Fire Department were the first on the scene. Officers who responded to the lodge on Rock Point Road at 1:44 a.m. found the victims suffering from gunshot wounds, police said. Beverly was transported to Prince George’s Hospital Center where he died a short time later. The second victim was transported to a hospital and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

Beverly’s friend, D.J. Turner, 29, of Waldorf, said ‘‘there are not words” to describe her shock over the shooting. ‘‘Michael goes to work and comes home and goes on camping trips ... [he] didn’t hang out with people who carry guns,” she said.

Turner said she and Beverly had been friends since the ninth grade, when she asked him to find her a boyfriend. Beverly complied by introducing her to her future husband, while Beverly dated Turner’s best friend, April Spence, 30.

Spence said she and Beverly dated for 15 years and had two children, 1 and 7. She said Beverly, an iron worker, always ‘‘took care” of their family. At some point, Spence can’t exactly say when or how, the two became engaged. ‘‘We were just always going to be together,” Spence said.

According to Spence, Beverly grew up near the Elks Lodge, one of the few gathering places in the rural town of Newburg. He remained close to his family and hometown through the years, and although he lived in Waldorf, he liked to go back to the clubhouse occasionally, Spence said. The night of the shooting, Beverly had been visiting the lodge with his high school friend.

Police obtained a warrant charging Thompson with second-degree murder but have not located him, Richardson said.

Thompson is 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighs about 205 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

Court records show Thompson pleaded guilty in 2005 to carrying a handgun in his vehicle, receiving a three-year sentence.

Also in 2005, he received a five-year sentence, only part of which he was required to serve, after pleading guilty to owning or wearing bullet-proof armor.

Barbara Farmer who lives three houses down from the lodge, said she didn’t hear anything Saturday until a fire truck woke her up at around two in the morning. ‘‘All I saw was lights flashing,” Farmer said.

Since last June, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office has received 12 calls reporting fights, assaults, drug complaints and suspicious persons at the Elks WAC Hughes Lodge 1053, according to Richardson.

‘‘It concerns me, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” said Farmer of the incidents at the clubhouse, a two-story building that sits sandwiched between cornfields and a few homes.

She said she’s been worried for years about incidents at the lodge, which serves alcohol, but said ‘‘the people who belong to [the club] should deal with it.”

But James Barnes, the lodge manager, said he isn’t sure what to do about incidents in the parking lot. ‘‘You can’t search people’s vehicles,” he said.

Visitors to the lodge are sometimes patted down before they can come in, but Barnes said when the building closes at around 1:30 a.m., things get rough outside the building. In the future, he said he hopes for a greater police presence near the lodge during closing hours.

‘‘It’s sad when you can’t even go out and have a beer,” Barnes said.

This is the third homicide in Charles County this year.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Detective J. Elliott at 301-609-6515 or Charles County Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS. Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest or indictment, and all callers remain anonymous.