Residents and business owners in the area near the scene in Linthicum where two men were gunned down Saturday report that life there is reliably quiet ? except for one establishment.
“There is always something going on at Motel 6,” said a resident of Wedeman Avenue, the road behind the scene of the shooting.
Wendy Bollinger, the co-owner of Maryland Rebath on Raynor Avenue, where the shooting occurred, agreed. “Other than Motel 6, there is not a lot of action,” she said.
Bollinger, other business owners and residents of Wedeman Avenue said there is a constant stream of people, police cars and noise in and out of the motel at all times.
Residents say they suspect the motel is a hot spot for drug transactions.
Employees of the Motel 6 declined to comment.
Calls to the chain?s corporate office were not returned Tuesday.
The two men shot to death Saturday near the motel, Rodreco Deonata Murray, 27, of Glen Burnie, and Lawrence Jerome Forrester, 29, both had a history of drug arrests and convictions dating back to 1995, according to court records.
Murray was previously treated for drug abuse and Forrester was recently charged with possession and intent to distribute narcotics, the records say.
Linthicum residents said they were not surprised.
“It was probably a drug deal gone bad,” said Randy Pleasant, owner of Carpet Liquidators on Raynor Avenue.
County police said Tuesday that the motel and others located near “major thoroughfares” are frequently hotbeds for drug transactions.
“There is a level of drug activity at that hotel,” said Lt. David Waltemeyer, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel police. “We?re aware of it.”
But Waltemeyer added hotel owners and employees are always cooperative and call to report incidents. He also said part of the narcotics unit focuses on hotels and “routinely conducts investigations there.”
