The residents had gotten used to the gunfire, so the shots ringing out on the cold November evening didn?t surprise anybody.
But the shots got closer to houses and more frequent the evening of Nov. 10, when residents said Wetlands Golf Course owner Sam Smedley drove through the woods and fields at the edge of the property, firing from his truck window, flipping off observers and telling others, “Go f— yourself.”
“Usually he?d go and fire his gun off a dozen times, two dozen times and stop,” said Deb Ellers, a resident of Locksley Manor Drive. “This time, I stopped counting around 20 rounds, and you could tell it was more than one gun. This time it was much more extreme.”
Neighbors call the shots the latest escalation in a long-running feud. Smedley, they said, became more upset and confrontational after losing some of his strongest allies in City Hall.
The feud dates to summer 2006, when opposition led by the residents of the Locksley Manor cul-de-sac started campaigning against the annexation and development of 524 acres around the golf course.
Since then, neighbors claim Smedley cut and mulched trees to ruin their views and make noise, drove around at night shining headlights on their homes, and spread smelly fertilizer. Smedley said he was doing normal golf course operations.
Bobbie Randles recalls the most recent gunfire.
“My husband was watching TV at the time, and he paused it to ask if the noise he heard was gunfire,” said Randles, a resident and opponent of the annexation and development. “I personally don?t get really alarmed when I hear gunfire because I know we?ve got hunters in the area … but it was a little disconcerting to hear that he had an assault rifle and that amount of ammunition in his truck.”
Maryland state troopers who took Smedley into custody that evening reported that he had a handgun, a shotgun and a Ruger Mini-14 rifle, along with spent cartridges and extra ammunition for all three guns in the truck. Just days before, Smedley?s ally, Mayor S. Fred Simmons, had been defeated in his bid for re-election, in part due to the anti-annexation group campaigning against him.
“I don?t understand any part of that, really,” said Simmons, who added he and Smedley were speaking calmly in Simmons? office just an hour before the arrest. “I guess it was just a carry-over of all the tensions there.”
John Frank Jr., a pro-annexation resident, said Smedley told him the next day that he was shooting for target practice toward a dirt mound, at least 150 yards from the nearest house, as required by law.
“Could Sam have picked a better spot to shoot? Probably,” Frank said. “But if what he was saying is true, he was well within his rights.”
Smedley?s attorney in the criminal case, Kevin Mahoney of Bel Air, declined comment. Smedley was out of town and could not be reached.
