Tarik R. Purcell was convicted of illegally firing a rifle into the air in Ocean City, but the Judge stepped in and reduced his sentence.
This is the time of year when all of the high-profile Ocean City crimes committed during the summer finally start to get their court dates. What we have been seeing this year, at least so far, is a serious disconnect between the gravity of these crimes and the punishments handed down. Ocean City Police received a call on June 15 that there were shots fired at Wicomico Street and Baltimore Avenue. Callers told 911 dispatch that there was a man with a rifle firing into the air, and the witnesses described both the suspects and their vehicle. It just so happened that the Ocean City Police Narcotics Unit were on patrol in the area where the shots were reported, and these officers were able to quickly locate and pull over the suspects' vehicle. [gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="6099,6100"] The suspects were identified as 20-year-old Christopher M. Thomas and 18-year-old Tarik R. Purcell, both from Gwynn Oak, Maryland. They were arrested and taken into custody. Police were able to find two HiPoint 9mm carbines in their vehicle. The investigation concluded that the two men were in an altercation with another group when two shots were fired in the air, causing both parties to run. Shell casings were recovered at the scene.
Officers threw the book at both suspects. Thomas was charged with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, discharging a firearm within city limits, use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, and illegal possession of a firearm by a prohibited person stemming from a previous adjudication in juvenile court. Purcell was charged with disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, and operating a vehicle with unauthorized window tinting.
It is not often that we see criminals shooting rifles into the air on the streets of Ocean City, so the case got a lot of headlines. Prosecutors were receiving a lot of pressure from the public to get a conviction.
Tarik Purcell pled guilty in court this month to the "use of a firearm in the commission of a felony" and "accessory after the fact." The disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, and window tint charges were dropped. Purcell was sentenced to three years in prison but the Judge decided to suspend all but six months of that suspension. Instead, he will be placed on probation for three years.
A disorderly conduct conviction in Maryland can result in up to two months behind bars. Reckless endangerment convictions involving firearms routinely receive the maximum five-year sentence. Instead of fully prosecuting the crimes, the plea deal and judge's intervention means that Purcell will now spend just six months behind bars.
His accomplice, Christopher Thomas, is set to appear in court in December. The charges he faces are much more severe because he is a prohibited person. Because of his juvenile record, he is not legally allowed to own a gun, let alone fire it into the air on Baltimore Avenue. Maryland law requires that "illegal possession of a firearm by a prohibited person" convictions carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. If the criminal has previous gun crimes on their record, then the sentence goes all the way up to ten years.
Given the fact that Purcell was facing charges that carried the possibility of upwards of a decade behind bars and will only serve six months, it will be interesting to see how the prosecutors treat Thomas' case. The reckless endangerment and prohibited person convictions alone would mean at least a decade behind bars. It is unclear whether the prosecutors and judge will show Thomas the same leniency they showed his accomplice.
Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws in the entire country, however, these laws are too often left unenforced. Radee Labeeb Prince is being prosecuted for a mass shooting that left three people dead at his place of employment in October. This man had a long criminal history that made it illegal for him to have a gun. He was even arrested once for illegally possessing and carrying a gun, which would have been enough to put him away for months but the charges were dropped. Had those charges been vigorously prosecuted, he would have been behind bars instead of shooting his co-workers.
We can laugh and roll our eyes about the cases of people getting a slap on the wrist for flinging excrement at Ocean City tourists. However, going easy on criminals who fired illegally-possessed rifles into the air on Baltimore Ave is simply unacceptable. As long as these heinous crimes are given leniency, we will continue to see more and more of them in Ocean City.
