Community Corner

First of Three Trials to Begin in Marriottsville Shooting

A 21-year-old woman faces attempted murder charges.

A trial is scheduled to begin Monday for a woman who allegedly sat in a car and loaded ammunition into a gun while telling a 15 year old that he was going to die. 

Police say the gun was later used by another person to shoot the 15 year old in the back of the head.

Twenty-one-year-old Chiquita Sketers, of Randallstown, faces attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges after the 15 year old was found in Marriottsville with a head wound.

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Howard County police say that on June 19, Donald George Peoples and Laura Christian Karr abducted the 15 year old from near his Reisterstown home. Then they picked up Sketers, according to police, who brought a long barrel rifle.

According to a statement made by the victim, when Sketers got in the car, she began asking him questions and “told him that he was going to die while loading the rifle with ammunition,” according to court documents.

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Police say Karr, Peoples and Sketers drove the minor to Old Frederick Road in Marriottsville and forced him out of the car at gunpoint. As he walked away from the car, according to police, Peoples shot him in the back of the head.

The victim was found lying in a field. He was taken to University of Maryland Shock Trauma and released in early July.

Sketers faces attempted first-degree murder; conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, kidnapping, first-degree assault, and two counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Peoples and Karr face the same charges. In addition, they each face one charge of armed robbery. Peoples’ trial is scheduled to begin in late June; Karr’s is scheduled for mid-July.  

Related:

- Three Charged in June Shooting of 15 Year Old

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