In the late summer evening of September 8, 2014, a burst of violence on Hager Street in Hagerstown, Maryland, left one man dead and two others wounded. Corey Lynell Lee, a 30-year-old from Frederick, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, which erupted at approximately 8 p.m. The gunshots, which occurred about six blocks south of the city's center, drew the attention of witnesses who reported seeing a group of four to five individuals in the area at the time of the incident.
Responding officers discovered a chaotic scene with three male victims. While Lee had succumbed to his injuries, the two other men were quickly transported for medical attention. One was taken to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, and the other was flown to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for treatment of his more severe injuries. The investigation that followed began to piece together the events that led to the fatal encounter.
In the wake of the shooting, authorities identified a suspect, 23-year-old Albert Diaz of Grove Hill Road. In a turn of events, it was revealed that Diaz himself had been injured in the shooting and had also been treated at the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Following an investigation, Diaz was arrested and faced serious charges. He was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Corey Lee.
The legal proceedings against Diaz also included a charge of attempted second-degree murder for the shooting of one of the surviving victims, Aaron Wolfkill, who was left paralyzed from the waist down as a result of his injuries. Following his arrest in late October 2014, Diaz was held on a $500,000 bond as the case prepared to move through the justice system, leaving a community to grapple with the aftermath of a violent and tragic night.
