On the morning of Friday, March 27, 1981, Montgomery County Police Officer Philip Carl Metz, a 33-year-old male, was just starting his shift when he was dispatched to a W. Bell and Co. catalog store in White Oak. An alarm had been activated earlier, but the building was found secure. This time, Officer Metz was to meet the assistant store manager, Douglas Cummins, and a security employee, David Myers, to conduct an interior check of the premises.
The three men entered the store together shortly after 7:00 a.m.
As they neared the manager's office, the scene turned deadly. Officer Metz entered the office first and was immediately shot in the head by a gunman lying in wait. A second assailant then emerged and opened fire, striking both Myers and Cummins in the chest. The gunmen dragged the wounded store manager into the office, beat him with their pistols, and forced him to open the safe. After looting the safe of cash and checks, they handcuffed Cummins to a filing cabinet and fled the scene. Despite his severe injuries, Cummins managed to break free and call for help at 7:45 a.m. Officer Metz and David Myers were pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the brutal slayings led to the eventual arrest, trial, and conviction of seven individuals. The man identified as the shooter of Officer Metz was James Arthur Calhoun, who was 28 years old at the time of his trial. In November 1981, a Montgomery County jury convicted Calhoun of the murder of Officer Philip Metz.
Following the conviction, the jury deliberated for six hours to decide between a sentence of life imprisonment or death. The prosecution argued for the death penalty, citing the fact that Metz was an on-duty police officer murdered during a robbery and that Calhoun had a prior criminal record with six convictions. The defense pleaded for his life, arguing that Calhoun was a product of society. The jury ultimately sentenced James Arthur Calhoun to die in Maryland's gas chamber, the first death sentence handed down in Montgomery County under a 1978 law.
