The underlying incident in this case actually happened back on May 4th but it’s getting some attention now because the local police chief came out and made some comments about how the system is handling it.
What happened is that a small group of teens, possibly just 3 people, ran rampant on a single night breaking into dozens of cars. Initial reports said there had been a total of 47 break-ins in Laurel, Maryland overnight.
“We had over 47 vehicle break-ins that we took reports for this morning,” said Laura Guenin, a spokeswoman for the Laurel Police Department. “They happened in the early morning hours of today, May 4. We got our first call around 4 a.m.”
Here’s a local news report from the next day.
But in fact it was worse than that. The number of break-ins in Laurel was eventually tallied as 54 and there were another 67 break-ins in surrounding counties, all carried out by the same group. We know it was one group because police arrested one of the teen suspects Wednesday and searched his home.
Laurel police arrested a 16-year-old boy Wednesday morning in connection to car break-ins on the night of May 4. He and two other teens smashed car windows and stole items from 54 cars in Laurel and 67 more in Prince George’s, Anne Arundel and Howard counties, police said.
“They were just simply going through neighborhoods and targets of opportunity, breaking into cars. If there was something in there, they’d steal. If there was nothing in there, they’d move to another car,” Laurel Police Chief Russ Hamill told News4.
Video from that night shows two suspects walk from car to car in a parking lot and use flashlights to search inside. A third suspect is driving a car closeby in case they need to escape, Hamill said. That car was stolen, he said.
Investigators found the keys to the stolen car and keys to 25 other cars during a search warrant at the 16-year-old suspect’s home in Beltsville, police said. They also found several stolen items, police said.
The keys and stolen items connected this teen to all 121 break-ins in 3 or 4 counties. In a sane world, that would be the end of this story. He and his pals would be headed for jail. Sadly, that’s not how things work anymore.
Laurel Police Chief Russ Hamill said a search warrant at the teen’s home… “managed to link him to all 121 events throughout the region.”…
“The young man was arrested and brought to the station, and I would like to tell you that’s the end of the story there. But that’s not the end of the story,” Hamill said…
“Although I would offer well over 100 cases in one night, gives you a pretty good record,” Hamill said. “These were not violent crimes, as if that lessens the impact on those 121 victims. So yes, five hours after we were at his house, he was released back into the community, back into the environment that allowed him to be out roaming the streets in all of these counties, late at night and in the early morning, doing these crimes to begin with.”
The implied shot at the parents seems justified. How do they not know their 16-year-old is out all night or have any idea why he has 25 sets of car keys and bunch of stolen merchandise in their home? The chief was clearly frustrated and apologized to all the victims for the outcome thus far. “The system’s broken, but it’s not broken here,” he said. In other words, it’s not the police who are the problem it’s the judicial system.
Detectives had the support of the state’s attorney’s office to hold the teen, but the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) denied their request, saying the teen didn’t have a prior record and the crimes weren’t violent, Hamill said…
“I have little hope there will be further accountability for him due to this broken system.”
The worst part is that after his release there were a bunch more break-ins the next day.
And the very next night, there was another spate of break-ins in Laurel — though Hamill stopped short of saying it was the work of the suspect and his cohorts.
“We’re not gonna lay every theft from auto in the region on him and his group, but I will note we had 17 the next night,” Hamill said.
The only good news here is that the other two suspects have been identified and will likely be arrested soon. That’s true even though, under Maryland law, the police weren’t allowed to question the suspect they arrested because he is a juvenile. Those other suspects will be arrested and presumably also be released immediately, but hopefully they will be given some kind of juvenile sentence eventually.
Here’s a bit of that press conference with Chief Hammill:
Laurel Police Department Chief Russ Hammill said he is extremely frustrated with Maryland’s “catch-and-release” policy for juveniles
“I have little hope there will be further accountability for him due to this broken system,” he said.
“They consider this a lower-level crime.… pic.twitter.com/UrKnLFzcWS
— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) May 29, 2025
