The message answering the phone number Austin Reidemonn gave police is simple: “They murdered and killed my man.”
Reidemonn, 24, of Columbia, and two others were so upset when demanding to see Anthony James Owen-Smith, 20, of Savage, at Howard County General Hospital in the hours following Owen-Smith?s fatal shooting that Howard County police arrested them for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The fatal shooting was the first in Howard County this year.
Police said about 25 people came to the hospital to see Owen-Smith, but hospital security guards did not allow them to enter the area. Several of the visitors began “acting in a disorderly fashion, shouting and trying to force their way back into the emergency room,” said Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.
Police then arrested Reidemonn, Britney Miles, 20, of Jessup, and a 17-year-old male on charges of disorderly conduct, Llewellyn said.
Reidemonn and Miles were “yelling profanities at officers and were consistently ignoring verbal commands,” police charging documents state. “Both suspects kept yelling at the officers and became physically aggressive toward them.”
Hospital spokeswoman Mary Patton said three people ? a Howard County police officer, emergency medical technician and emergency room employee ? sustained minor injuries from “pushing and shoving.”
The Howard County General Hospital was forced to stop admitting ambulances for several hours because of the disorderly conduct, Patton said. But the incident did not negatively affect any medical procedures, she said.
“The emergency department continued to function and people were able to go about their business,” she said.
Neither Reidemonn nor Miles returned phone calls seeking comment.
Police charged Mike Dean Jackson Jr., 28, of Columbia, with first-degree murder. Jackson told police he acted in “self-defense,” and that he shot Owen-Smith because Owen-Smith and his friends tried to beat up Jackson and Jackon?s brother following an earlier argument, according to court records.
