One person was killed and six others were wounded during a shooting at an illegal car rally in Maryland early Monday morning, authorities said.
Responding officers found one man dead at the scene. He was later identified as 24-year-old Leo Noel Balladares-Arita of Falls Church, Virginia. Police also located a woman suffering non-life-threatening injuries who was subsequently taken to a local hospital.
Officials said that in the hours that followed the fatal shooting, area hospitals reported four walk-in victims believed to be connected to the incident, all suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. Another victim later sought medical attention for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound at a hospital in Virginia.
Authorities did not release the names of the wounded victims but said they included an 18-year-old man, three 20-year-old men, and two women, ages 16 and 19, all of whom are from Virginia.
“Detectives believe many of the participants, who were known to each other, were not from Howard County,” officials said. “No additional information is available at this early stage of the investigation.”
Llewellyn also told the station that investigators believe multiple shooters had exchanged gunfire during the incident. No additional details were released about a possible motive or what may have led up to the shooting. NTD reached out to Howard County police for more information, but a response was not received by publication time.
Officials have asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact the police department directly. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 410-313-7867 or by emailing [email protected].
Authorities in Maryland have been cracking down on illegal street takeovers and car rallies in recent years. In June 2024, Maryland State Police launched a car rally task force in collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies across the state, including the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and police departments from Prince George’s, Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore counties.
To date, the task force has responded to 224 events, resulting in 91 arrests and more than 50 firearms seizures, a Maryland State Police spokesperson told NTD via email on Tuesday.
