Dalonte Dametrius Young, a 30-year-old man from Hagerstown, was fatally shot during the early morning hours of July 5, 2026. At approximately 3:30 a.m., Hagerstown Police Department officers were dispatched to the first block of East Antietam Street after receiving a report of a gunshot victim. When officers arrived, they found Young suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators classified his death as a homicide.
Detectives with the Hagerstown Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit began examining the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Authorities described the incident as isolated and said there was no continuing danger to the general public. Police did not publicly disclose a suspected motive, the events that preceded the gunfire or the specific roles allegedly played by those later accused.
The investigation led police to identify two Hagerstown residents, Michael Timothy Wilder and Cierra Candice Bryant, as suspects. Arrest warrants were obtained charging both with first-degree murder and additional related offenses. The suspects initially remained at large as investigators sought assistance from other law-enforcement agencies and asked the public to provide information about their locations.
Bryant was arrested without incident in Hagerstown on July 9 with assistance from the Washington County Special Response Team. After she was served with the murder warrant, she was taken to the Washington County Detention Center and ordered held without bond.
Wilder was apprehended without incident at approximately 11:30 a.m. on July 10 in the 900 block of Dual Highway. The Hagerstown Police Department credited the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the United States Marshals Service and the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force with assisting in locating and arresting him. Wilder was served with his warrant for first-degree murder and related offenses and was also taken to the Washington County Detention Center.
With both defendants in custody, the case remained an active homicide prosecution. No trial, plea agreement or conviction had been reported, and the charges represented allegations that would have to be proven in court.
