(News update) Man killed in weekend shooting

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

A man was killed and a second man injured early Saturday morning during a shooting at the Mattawoman Restaurant in Indian Head, police reported.

Victor Simon Taylor, 24, of Fairfax, Va., might have been fatally shot in an argument that erupted in the restaurant's parking lot, according to Diane Richardson, spokeswoman for the Charles County Sheriff's Office. It appears that the second victim, 23, was sitting in a vehicle with several friends when a stray bullet struck him, she said.

Police received a call about a shooting at the bar at 1:09 a.m., but when they arrived, there were no victims on the scene, Richardson said.

Witnesses said they saw a black sport utility vehicle driving away after the shooting, and sheriff's officers issued a lookout. Police spotted the SUV on Hawthorne Road near Quailwood Parkway in La Plata, and in the backseat, they found the 23-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his back, Richardson said. The man was taken to a hospital and treated for injuries that weren't life-threatening.

Around the same time, Taylor, who had multiple gunshot wounds, was dropped off at the Fort Washington Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The people who brought Taylor to the hospital said they received a call that he was injured and instructions to pick him up in Indian Head, according to Richardson. Taylor's friends transferred him from a waiting car to their vehicle and took him to the hospital, Richardson said.

Investigators believe both men were shot at Mattawoman Restaurant and don't think the victims knew each other. Several witnesses reported that an argument broke out in the parking lot before the shooting, but the exact sequence of events is unclear, Richardson said.

"We're still putting all those pieces together," she said.

Police do not have any descriptions of a possible shooter or a suspect vehicle.

brodgers@somdnews.com