A man who opened fire in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, as people walked nearby late last year was identified thanks to some unusual evidence: Prosecutors say cameras on a parked car cracked the case.
Bars and clubs had closed and people were on Thayer Avenue at about 2 a.m. Dec. 13, 2021. In an alley, one car swiped another and a fight broke out.
Then a man showed up, stood in the middle of the street and opened fire over and over again. No one was hurt, but there were some close calls.
It was all caught on camera by a Tesla equipped with a number of cameras. Without the driver there, the car went into what’s called sentry mode, so if something happens, it’s all recorded.
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The owner of the Tesla lives nearby. That night, he heard the gunfire and then checked out the footage from his car. He said police told him they had been looking at a different suspect until they saw the video.
“Having this kind of evidence helps the right people be put away, instead of the wrong people,” the car owner said Wednesday.
Police then focused in on John Tomlinson, 29. He was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced this week to 15 years in prison.
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Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Wednesday that the Tesla video was a key clue in the case.
“The shooter was known to us, and that video was shared with some members of the Montgomery County Police Department, who were able to look at the video — the quality is so good — they could say, ‘I know who that guy is,’ and that’s how we came to arrest him,” he said.
