Silver Spring

On Friday in Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Judge Greenberg sentenced defendant, Joshua Toure, to life in prison plus 20 years, suspending all but 40 years, and three years of supervised probation upon release, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.  In April a jury found Toure guilty of first-degree felony murder, second-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, for the death of 28-year-old Joseph Davis.

This stems from an incident on December 22, 2019, in Silver Spring, MD.  Toure and the victim met for the purpose of a marijuana transaction. A conflict ensued after Toure robbed the victim and Toure fired a total of six shots, hitting Davis three times. There is police body camera footage from responding officers which shows the officers asking Davis who shot him as he receives medical care in the street, and he repeatedly replies, “It was Son Son.” “Son Son” is Toure’s nickname.


Bethesda

Today in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Joshua Wright, 17, of Bethesda, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of Lawrence Wilson Jr. on December 19th, 2021. According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, Wright faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on October 12th, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. Co-defendant, Antonio Lawrence, is set for trial beginning February 6, 2023.

Lawrence Richard Wilson, Jr. was a 2006 graduate of Watkins Mill High School in Montgomery Village.


Bethesda

Per Montgomery County:

On Thursday, County Executive Marc Elrich announced an innovative new development project that would transform two Bethesda Parking Lot Districts (PLD), Lots 25 and 44, to almost 300 affordable and deeply affordable housing units. The project is a joint venture with private partners and will also include a greenway between Highland and West Virginia Avenues as envisioned in the Bethesda Downtown Sector Plan. The County Executive was joined at the announcement by Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson, whose district includes this area.


Highways / Interstates

On Thursday, July 14, at approximately 7:28 p.m., an on-duty Montgomery County Police Officer notified the Emergency Communications Center that he had been involved in a collision on the ICC between Georgia Ave. and Shady Grove Rd. The officer was driving west on MD 200 in his marked patrol car, when a motorcycle crashed into the back of the officer’s cruiser, a 2018 Dodge Charger.

The driver of the motorcycle, 31-year-old Carlos Ivan Diaz-Franco of Silver Spring, was thrown from his 2020 BMW S 1000 RR motorcycle. Montgomery County Fire Rescue responded to the location and Diaz-Franco was pronounced dead on scene. The motorcycle came to rest in the eastbound lanes, causing the ICC to be shut down in both directions during the investigation.


Event

Historic Indigenous Recognition Event to Take Place in Montgomery County, Maryland

The Taino American Indigenous National Organization (T.A.I.N.O.) proudly announces its upcoming signature public event,


MoCo Government

The deadline to sign up to speak is July 25 at 5:00 p.m.

Resolution, Proposed Amendment to County Charter – General Provisions – Conflicting Charter Amendments


Cabin John

A new ice cream spot named The Scoop is coming to 7909 Tuckerman Ln, the former Baskin-Robbins location in Cabin John Village. The creamery is being opened by Timothy and Mitch Ryoo, Potomac natives and Winston Churchill High School Graduates (2010 and 2006).  The Scoop plans to open in about 2-3 weeks as they are just waiting for final permits and inspections from the county.

The Scoop will feature 24-30 permanent flavors and 8-10 seasonal options. All of the ice cream is made in house with natural ingredients, staying away from products like simple syrup.  The owners tell us they are working with local distributors and are in talks with local farms to purchase ingredients from. The Scoops plans to stay open later than their competitors (11pm) as they want to be known as a late-night dessert destination. The Scoop will offer ice cream cones, cups, and milkshakes, as well as Italian ice and dairy free ice cream. They also plan to eventually serve gelato. We will post an update once an opening date has been announced.


Germantown

Earlier that day, at approximately 3:15 p.m., a store employee was sitting outside the store when three teenagers approached the front of the store. The employee recognized the three teens and told all three they were too young to enter the store, and to leave. Words were exchanged between the teens and the employee, and the teens left.

A short time later, two of the juveniles retuned, with suspect number one wearing a black ski mask covering his face and head. He walked quickly to the front door and entered the store. As the employee stood up to stop him from going inside, suspect number two attempted to hit the victim.


Rockville

Rockville City Police responded to a call for a shooting at the 100 block of Gibbs Street in Rockville early Friday morning, which is located in Rockville Town Square. The RCPD posted the following update on in its social media account shortly before 9am:

“Around 1:45 a.m. officers were dispatched to the 100 block of Gibbs St for the initial report of fight in progress, which was then changed to a shooting. Officers located an adult male shot several times. The victim was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The victim/suspect, who appear to be known to each other, got into a physical altercation. The suspect shot the victim several times. This is an active investigation, there is no threat to the community.”


Crime

7/15/22 – 2:45 a.m. RCPD has responded to a shooting in the 100 block of Gibbs Street. RCPD Investigators en route. This is an active investigation, no other information is available at this time.

Additional information will be provided as soon as we have it.


Arts

Olney Theatre is currently presenting a 2.5 hour (with 15 minute intermission) staging of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, which runs until July 24th. It features a cast of Deaf, hearing, and hard-of-hearing artists, and all shows are performed in ASL and spoken English and open-captioned.

PBS NewsHour recently profiled the production (video available below), which officially opened June 29 and continues through July 24. Actor Hugh Jackman also recently shouted out Olney Theatre’s production and the PBS profile on Instagram, referring to it as “incredibly heartwarming.”