David Linthicum to stand trial in shootings of 2 Baltimore County Police officers
Dylan Segelbaum
The Baltimore Banner
September 16, 2024
Linthicum, 25, of Cockeysville, is charged in Baltimore County Circuit Court with 5 counts of attempted first-degree murder and related offenses
A man is set to stand trial Monday on charges he shot two Baltimore County Police officers and sparked a dayslong manhunt in 2023 that closed schools and led people to stay in their homes.
David Linthicum, 25, of Cockeysville, is scheduled to appear in Baltimore County Circuit Court for jury selection. He’s being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center without bond.
Here’s what you need to know.
What are the allegations in the case?
On Feb. 8, 2023, Linthicum’s father, John, who’s known as Whit, called 911 to report that his son was experiencing suicidal thoughts and armed with a gun.
Baltimore County Police walked with Linthicum’s father into the basement of their home on Powers Avenue above Sherwood Road. His son was lying on his bed holding a high-powered rifle, police allege, and fired more than a dozen rounds.
When he got outside the house, Officer Barry Jordan realized he had been hit, police reported. He was hospitalized for several hours at Sinai Hospital and then released.
Linthicum took off, igniting a three-day manhunt that spanned Baltimore and Harford counties, closed schools and led to a shelter-in-place order.
The FBI; Maryland State Police; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and other agencies took part in the search, which involved helicopters and drones.
On Feb. 9, 2023, Linthicum shot Detective Jonathan Chih while he was on patrol on Warren and Bosley roads, police assert, and stole his 2013 Ram 1500.
Chih was shot in the face, torso, leg and arms and spent 10 days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Linthicum, police claim, led police on a chase, bailed out of the pickup and ran into the woods in Fallston.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office arrested Linthicum on Feb. 10, 2023, after an eight-hour standoff.
“Our community is safer this morning with this individual in custody,” Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler told reporters, “where he belongs.”
In a statement, Gov. Wes Moore said, “We are grateful to have restored peace in the communities affected and vow to bring this individual to justice.”
How many charges does Linthicum face?
Linthicum faces 27 counts:
- Attempted first-degree murder (five counts)
- First-degree assault (seven counts)
- Second-degree assault (three counts)
- Use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence (seven counts)
- Armed carjacking (one count)
- Carjacking (one count)
- Armed robbery (one count)
- Robbery (one count)
- Unlawful taking of a motor vehicle (one count)
How has Linthicum responded to the accusations?
Linthicum’s attorneys, Deborah Katz Levi and James Dills, previously said in a statement that their client was a “young man in crisis who needed assistance.”
They’ve described what happened as a “mental health crisis with a response gone wrong.”
Levi is director of special litigation for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore. Dills is district public defender for Baltimore County.
Linthicum, they wrote in court documents, was overcome with his yearslong battle with severe depression and looking for a way to end his life.
Police did not wait for a specialized team or professionals trained in responding to a mental health crisis. And they later recklessly approached Linthicum, mistaking him for a hitchhiker, despite being told to use extreme caution, Levi and Dills said.
They said evidence about the police’s prior training, conduct during the manhunt and what they described as efforts to cover up what happened is critical.
“It doesn’t just tend to exculpate or mitigate David’s guilt,” Levi and Dills said. “It tells the story of how these events unfolded, and how this is not, as the State wishes to portray it, a callous act of attempted premeditated murder.”
What’s happened leading up to trial?
Prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to remove Levi from the case, claiming she had a conflict of interest because her brother-in-law, Warren Alperstein, represented Chih in a workers’ compensation case.
Meanwhile, Levi and Dills have repeatedly alleged that the state has engaged in a “pattern of prosecutorial misconduct.” They’ve asked a judge no fewer than three times to throw out the charges.
In the alternative, Levi and Dills have asked the court to bar all witnesses from the Baltimore County Police Department from testifying at trial and kick the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office off the case.
Deputy State’s Attorney John Cox and Assistant State’s Attorney Zarena Sita have denied wrongdoing.
How long is the trial supposed to last?
Circuit Judge Garret P. Glennon Jr. is presiding over the trial, which is scheduled for 10 days.