WASHINGTON — Police in Montgomery County, Maryland, have arrested an 18-year-old man following a series of pellet gun attacks in the Silver Spring area that occurred over the past week.
In a brief statement posted on Twitter Wednesday, the Montgomery County Police Department said the man had been taken into custody and that investigators had found the weapon that was apparently used in the attacks.
The suspect’s name was not immediately released to the public.
“No additional information at this time,” police said in the statement. “We will provide updates via social media as information is confirmed.”
On Monday, police said they were looking for the person responsible for shooting pellets at three people in two incidents in the area of the Briggs Chaney Marketplace, a shopping center on Outlet Drive near the intersection of Columbia Pike and Briggs Chaney Road.
In one of the shootings, a man was hit while he was standing outside his home in a nearby neighborhood on Aldora Circle.
In the other incident, police said two women who were at the shopping center were hit with pellets.
Investigators tracked the suspect down after releasing surveillance footage that was captured at one of the businesses at the shopping center. Cameras in the warehouse of the Global Food grocery store caught the suspect sneaking around and holding the pellet gun.
The video, seen below, was released on Tuesday.
Following Monday’s incidents, police said they believed the shootings were connected to an incident that happened about a week prior in which a victim was hit by pellets in the same area.
None of the people hit was injured, police said.
Although pellet guns are legal, law enforcement officials caution against owning them and carrying them around because they can be dangerous and can be perceived to be a real firearm.
