SWAT Responds to Threat Reported in Jessup Home

A domestic dispute between a Jessup couple stopped traffic and blanketed a neighborhood in smoke Thursday afternoon, according to residents on Sharewood Drive, where the incident occurred.

“It was a real live video warfare game,” said Stacy Dunne, who lives across the street from the house that police surrounded at approximately 11 a.m.

Dunne said she heard the couple across the street arguing earlier in the morning and watched from her window as police arrived in droves.

“They told everybody to stay in their houses,” said Dunne. “I wanted to walk my dog, and they told me to get back inside.”

Police said that a report was made that the man inside the home was holding his wife at gunpoint and threatening to kill her.

Law enforcement officials set off a flash grenade before the tactical (SWAT) team entered the residence to search for the suspect, according to neighbors. 

“You could see the smoke from MD 175,” said one Sharewood Drive resident who told Patch he couldn't get home because police blocked off his street.

Dunne’s children were also waiting, on the other end of Sharewood Drive, where the street was also closed.

Her children, who had been on the way home from Patuxent Valley Middle School, said their bus driver pulled over on the side of Dorsey Run Road and waited there approximately 20 minutes until police cleared Sharewood Drive for traffic at 3 p.m.

Police said they found the suspect hiding in the attic and also discovered several rifles inside the house.

“He will face a charge of assault related to this domestic incident,” said Sherry Llewellyn, spokeswoman for Howard County Police Department in a phone call on Thursday.

Police said the suspect was arrested Thursday afternoon.