Hagerstown police say a midday dispute on Murph Avenue turned into a shooting on Tuesday, but no one was hit, and the suspect was in cuffs almost before the smoke cleared. Officers credit their camera network and a fast-moving response for tracking down a 38-year-old Hagerstown man within minutes of the first 911 calls.
According to Tri-State Alert, officers were dispatched to 51 Murph Ave at about 11:31 a.m. on July 2 after reports that a man had fired shots during an argument and then taken off. Police say surveillance video showed the suspect firing at people in the area. He allegedly ran from the scene but was tracked down and detained in roughly 10 minutes. Police later identified the suspect as 38-year-old Christian Allen Williams of Hagerstown, as reported by Franklin County Free Press.
How officers tracked the suspect
Investigators say the department’s Real Time Information Center jumped into action as calls came in, with staff pulling up city camera feeds and helping guide patrol units toward the fleeing suspect. A police drone was also launched to support the search, a tactic that officials say helped compress the response time from the first call to the arrest, according to Tri-State Alert.
Charges and booking
Police transported Williams to the Washington County Detention Center. He is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, carrying a handgun on his person, handgun use in the commission of a violent crime, and reckless endangerment, per Franklin County Free Press. Williams is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Murph Avenue has seen serious violence before. In 2022, a fatal shooting on the same street led to a lengthy investigation and a later conviction, highlighting the block’s fraught recent history, as reported by The Daily Record. Police say no one was injured in the July 2 gunfire and that the case remains under active investigation, according to Tri-State Alert.
