By Dan Belson
Source The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Investigators identified 48-year-old Anthony Hopkins Sr. as the man shot and killed during a dispute with Anne Arundel County Police in Harwood this weekend.
In a Monday news release, the Independent Investigations Division of the state attorney general's office also identified the group of officers who shot Hopkins as corporals Z. Devers, K. Slayton, B. Dehn, M. Hanlon and J. Metcalf, who are all patrol officers with the police department.
Police responded to the 4100 block of Sands Road in Harwood early Saturday morning after multiple 911 calls reported a domestic violence incident, according to the state Independent Investigations Division, which is charged with investigating fatal encounters with police in Maryland.
Officers heard several gunshots from a nearby wooded area as they arrived, according to a Saturday news release. Some of the gunshots struck an unoccupied police vehicle. Hopkins, of Harwood, eventually emerged from the woods with a firearm, the release said.
Investigators said Hopkins raised the gun in the direction of the officers, who fired back at him, striking him multiple times. Police attempted to provide aid, but he was later pronounced dead on the scene by Anne Arundel County Fire Department medics.
No officers were injured, and the woman involved in the domestic violence incident was taken to the hospital and later released, according to police.
Devers and Slayton both have 9½ years of experience with the agency, according to the release. Dehn has nine years of experience, Hanlon has 3½ years and Metcalf has five years of experience with Anne Arundel County, as well as five more years with another agency.
All of the officers involved activated body-worn cameras during the shooting. That footage is generally released by the attorney general's office within 14 days of an incident, barring some exceptions, according to the state division.
Several of Hopkins' family members did not immediately return calls for comment Monday evening.
According to court records, Hopkins was charged with attempted first-degree murder in 2007 for stabbing his brother at a family event; he later pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to five years in jail, suspended after one year.
The incident is the second fatal shooting by Anne Arundel County Police officers to be investigated by the attorney general's office this year. Twenty-year-old Dyonta Quarles Jr., was shot and killed in January after a struggle with police who responded to his mother's home in Crofton.
The Independent Investigations Division forwarded its investigative report on that matter to the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office last month, which declined to press criminal charges against the officers. The division is expected to release the report by Oct. 7. Meanwhile, Quarles' family has filed a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore against the officers.
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