Gas station shooting suspect, Shantay Lashay O’Donnell of Virginia arrested after firing at Columbia, Maryland gas station convenience store worker in attempted robbery. Worker remains in serious condition as Howard County Police release surveillance video.
Update: Shantay Lashay O’Donnell, 46, of Virginia, has been identified as the shooter in the April 18 attempted robbery of a Shell gas station clerk in Columbia. She is currently in custody in another state on unrelated charges. O’Donnell will be served with multiple Howard County charges in the coming days according to a April 21 release.
Original story: Howard County Police in Columbia, Maryland have released surveillance footage (see below) of a woman shooting a gas station convenience store employee during an attempted robbery over the weekend.
The shooting occurred on Friday evening at the Shell gas station on the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way.
Brazen attempted robbery leaves gas station worker seriously wounded
Surveillance footage inside the store shows the woman calmly walking up to the counter at a Shell station in Columbia around 7:43 p.m., Friday April 17 and producing a silver revolver from her purse, which she aims at the clerk off-screen while appearing to order the employee to open the cash register.
She can be seen firing a single shot in the video, but police said she fired multiple times and struck the clerk, a male victim, leaving him in serious condition before fleeing the scene according to FOXBaltimore.
‘What we know is that this woman walked into the Shell store, walked around a little bit, and then, as soon as she approached the counter, that’s when she took out the gun and fired,’ Howard County police spokesman Seth Hoffman told WBAL-TV 11 News. ‘We know that she demanded the clerk to open the cash register, but as you can see, it all unfolded so quickly.’
Police are investigating this as an attempted robbery, while adding that the woman in the video didn’t steal anything.
‘We don’t even think that (the clerk) had time (to open the register). We don’t believe he did,’ Hoffman told WBAL-TV 11 News. ‘She started shooting and then left without anything.’
Unknown female suspect remains at large as $2,500 reward offered
Adding, ‘This is incredibly brazen; we don’t see incidents like this very often. We have robberies and some thefts in gas stations, where somebody may imply a weapon or show a weapon, but not use it, and they usually leave with something. Here, we have somebody who just shot and left with nothing.’
Cops described the suspect as a black woman wearing a black dress and slide sandals, with the Howard County Police Department offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to her arrest.
Investigators said the suspect is not known to county police. They said she drove a vehicle to the incident and left in it.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 410-313-STOP or to send an email to HCPDcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov. A reward of $2,500 is being offered leading to an arrest.
