Baltimore Sun
August 7, 2014
The man shot to death in a home invasion in the Street area of northern Harford County early Monday was robbed of money during a struggle with three men, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Thomas Richard Anderson, 38, who lived in the home in the 1200 block of Trappe Road, died at the scene after being shot several times in the upper torso, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The men suspected of fatally shooting Anderson were still at large late Tuesday afternoon.
The Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that the intruders were three black men who had their faces partly covered and were wearing nondescript clothing. At least two of them were armed with handguns.
Anderson struggled with the intruders and was shot several times, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
During the confrontation, which occurred around 1 a.m., one of the assailants also struck another family member in the head while demanding money, the Sheriff’s Office said. The family member refused medical treatment.
The Sheriff’s Office said previously that family members in addition to Anderson were present in the home in other rooms when the attack occurred. Investigators have not said how many people were in the home or what their specific relationship was to Anderson.
The intruders fled the scene in an unknown direction “with a small amount of money,” according to the Sheriff’s Office statement.
Lt. W. Michael Crabbs, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said the assailants left the area, but investigators don’t have much additional information to go on at this time.
“We are uncertain how they left the area; they fled from the residence on foot uncertain of a direction,” Crabbs said in an email.
“All avenues are being explored by detectives, including any additional motives,” Crabbs added.
Detectives are continuing “to vigorously pursue leads developed during the initial investigation,” and have been conducting interviews, Crabbs said. Anderson’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
Crabbs said earlier that detectives did not believe the incident to be random, noting: “It’s very, very rare that anyone is chosen at random.”
The house where the fatal shooting occurred is a modular, or mobile, home is on a wooded lot, a short distance from Route 1. The Sheriff’s Office said Anderson did not own the property. Tax records indicate the owner lives in Colorado.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff Office’s Northern Precinct at 410-692-7880 of Harford Crime Solvers at 1-888-540-8477.
Anderson’s death is the second homicide in Harford County in the past six weeks and the fourth this year.
On June 25, a 19-year-old man was found shot on an Edgewood Street and died in a hospital an hour later. No arrests have been made in that case.
A woman was stabbed to death in her Forest Hill home in late January. Her 20-year-old son has been charged with murder.
A man was shot to death in his Edgewood home in early June. His girlfriend, who lived with him, has been charged in what police say was a domestic dispute.