Man charged in Eastern Shore shooting that killed 5-year-old girl

Authorities have arrested a 26-year-old man for what they described as a retaliatory shooting earlier this month on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that left a 5-year-old girl dead and injured a 30-year-old man.

The case has also implicated a former analyst with the Dorchester County State’s Attorney’s Office, who police say attempted to help the suspect destroy evidence.

Anthony Harris of Hurlock is charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and multiple other offenses in connection with the shooting in Linkwood, according to court records.

Harris is being represented by the public defender’s office but didn’t yet have an attorney listed in online court records.

Court records filed this week revealed new details about what happened. Maryland State Police responded to a home in the 3900 block of Ocean Gateway around 2:17 a.m. on Aug. 11 and found both the girl and man with gunshot wounds.

Despite paramedics’ efforts to treat the gunshot wound to her abdomen, the girl was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later. The man, identified as 30-year-old Ryan Adams, was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center for treatment of multiple life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to charging documents.

Investigators later learned that several people living in the home were awakened by the sound of gunfire, prompting calls to 911. Police found several shell casings in two separate locations outside of the home.

Investigators believe the shooting was an “act of retaliation” for another shooting that happened in the 100 block Gold Rush Lane the night prior, in which a 14-year-old was shot and taken to a nearby hospital in serious condition, records show.

State troopers’ investigation in the Gold Rush Lane shooting uncovered two suspected shooters, one being a 15-year-old who lived at the Ocean Gateway home and admitted to the Aug. 10 incident, according to charging documents.

A confidential source also told authorities that relatives of the boy who was shot at Gold Rush Lane, including Harris, were responsible for the shooting in Linkwood.

Video footage and cellular data obtained by investigators helped provide additional insights into what led to the Linkwood shooting. That footage tracked a dark-colored Jeep Grand Cherokee to Ocean Gateway near the home moments before the shooting, according to charging documents.

Authorities said they believe Harris was driving the car “enroute to the Linkwood address to perpetrate the homicide.” The vehicle was tracked through the route he took to Ocean Gateway and where he went afterward, where he was allegedly looking for evidence that could be used against him, court documents said.

Days later, on Aug. 14, investigators executed a search warrant at Harris’ residence and seized several electronic devices, a set of keys to the Jeep seen in surveillance footage and a black backpack.

One of the devices investigators took was identified as Harris’ iPhone. On it, investigators uncovered a message thread between Harris and Lindsay Ewing, a former analyst in the Dorchester County State’s Attorney’s Office, according to charging documents.

Recovered messages from Harris’ phone showed Ewing provided him with sensitive information about the investigation, including victims’ names and how authorities believed he was connected to the Ocean Gateway shooting, court records said.

In another message, Ewing advised Harris to “wipe” his phone. Ewing and Harris tried to conceal their communications and move discussions to Telegram, but investigators were able to recover conversations in which they talked about tampering with and destroying evidence using forensic software, according to charging documents.

Ewing is charged with altering evidence and being an accessory to murder, according to court records.

Harris is being held without bond and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 22.