Two people were killed in Columbia this week — doubling Howard County’s homicide total for the year — and police say suspects are in custody in both slayings.
The first killing happened when 42-year-old Nichole McNair was fatally shot on Monday evening. The bail bondswoman from Baltimore was found wounded in the 8700 block of Hayshed Lane at about 10 p.m., taken to Howard County General Hospital in critical condition and later died.
Howard County police said a client, 21-year-old Dominique McDonald, of Columbia, was arrested in her slaying. Authorities believe McDonald and McNair were meeting on Hayshed Lane so McDonald could make a payment on bail money he owed.
Police said papers indicating McNair was collecting a payment from McDonald were found in her car. In a nearby woods, police found McNair’s cellphone and a piece of a cellphone that belonged to McDonald.
McDonald was apprehended in an apartment on the 8800 block of Tamar Drive. He had a handgun in his possession, police said. He was charged on Wednesday with first- and second-degree murder.
The second killing happened Tuesday, when 46-year-old Phillip E. Wise was stabbed to death in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 5500 block of Harper’s Farm Road at about 4:30 p.m. Police were alerted to the slaying after a man heard his car alarm activated and called authorities after seeing Wise near the vehicle. Police believe Wise might have collapsed against the car, setting off the alarm.
Witnesses said Wise and 53-year-old Anthony P. Parker had been fighting in the parking lot; Parker and several others drove away in a van after the altercation, police said.
A warrant was issued for Parker’s arrest, and he turned himself into authorities Wednesday evening, police said. He is charged with first-degree murder.
The two killings brought Howard County’s homicide total for 2011 to four, the same number of slayings recorded in all of 2010, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The photograph shown is of Parker; click the image to see a photograph of McDonald.
