On a cold Sunday afternoon in Hagerstown, Maryland, the community was shaken by the discovery of a local man's untimely death. Anthony Leon Latimer, a 42-year-old male, was found deceased inside a vehicle on February 5, 2023. The vehicle was parked in the 400 block of North Locust Street, where officers had been dispatched around 4:24 PM to investigate reports of a suspicious vehicle.
Upon their arrival, they made the grim discovery of Latimer's body, which had sustained apparent gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the death of Anthony Leon Latimer quickly became a homicide case. For seventeen days, the Hagerstown Police Department worked to uncover the events that led to the shooting. Their efforts led them to a suspect, a man who it was later revealed knew Latimer. Police assured the public that they believed this to be an isolated incident, stemming from a connection between the two men. The breakthrough in the case came with the identification of 25-year-old Malik Clarence Woodley of Baltimore. Surveillance cameras played a key role in identifying Woodley as the alleged perpetrator.
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, with the assistance of the Maryland State Police apprehension unit, Malik Clarence Woodley was taken into custody in Baltimore. He was subsequently charged with a litany of offenses, including first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and numerous firearms offenses. Following his arrest, Woodley was held without bond at the Washington County Jail. The arrest brought a sense of relief to the unnerved neighborhood, with local residents and business owners expressing their shock and devastation over the violent act that had disturbed their community.
