David Linthicum, the man who’s accused of shooting two Baltimore County Police officers and sparking a dayslong manhunt that caused schools to close and people to lock themselves inside their homes, was indicted Monday on 27 counts, including attempted first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, and armed carjacking.
The indictment charges Linthicum, 24, of Cockeysville, with 16 new counts, including ones that allege he tried to murder two other police officers.
The development is largely a procedural step. Linthicum had been scheduled to appear on Friday for a preliminary hearing in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore County in Towson, according to online court records.
On Feb. 8, Linthicum is accused of firing more than a dozen rounds toward his father, John, and Officer Barry Jordan, who realized outside the home on Powers Avenue near Sherwood Road in Cockeysville that he’d been shot.
Jordan responded to the house because of a call from Linthicum’s father, who was worried that his son had been experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Next, Linthicum shot Detective Jonathan Chih on Feb. 9 on Warren Road in Cockeyville, stole his 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 and led law enforcement on a chase that ended in a field near the Fallston Mall in Harford County, police reported.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office surrounded Linthicum and took him into custody on Feb. 10.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said Jordan went down into the basement of the home with two other police officers. Their full names are not included in court documents.
Meanwhile, Chih was shot from two different locations: far away and close up. That’s the basis for the additional charges of attempted first-degree murder, Shellenberger said.
Linthicum’s older brother, Martin, described him as smart but mired in anger, bitterness and hatred of authorities.
In a statement, Deborah Katz Levi, Linthicum’s attorney and director of special litigation for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore, said her client was a young man in crisis who needed help.
“Like the aggressive response he received last month, an increase in charges and allegations does not change the fact that this was a mental health crisis with a response gone wrong,” Levi said.
Levi previously pushed back against the assertions from her client’s brother.
Linthicum is being held without bail. It’s unclear when he’s expected back in court.
