Police seeking information on separate shootings in Columbia that injured teens, killed one man

BALTIMORE — A 26-year-old man was reported missing days before he was found shot to death in a vehicle parked behind an office building in Columbia early Saturday, according to Howard County police.

Kendrick McLellan was one of three people who were shot in the same block, near the Columbia Palace shopping center. McLellan was reported missing in Baltimore on Thursday before being found dead around 2:15 a.m. Saturday in the 8800 block of Center Park Drive.

“Basically, we’re at a point where we need information,” said Seth Hoffman, Howard County police spokesman. “We don’t know when he was shot. There have been no reports of gunshots in the area, so we are investigating a wide range of possibilities as to when this could have happened.”

Shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, two teenagers aged 16 and 17 were shot to death in the parking lot of the nearby Giant Food. According to the appeal, the shooting happened between the Bank of America and the Giant at the Columbia Palace Mall.

“We don’t have much to do,” Hoffman said. “We believe there was only one shooter and we believe it was probably targeted, so it was not a random shooting.”

The shootings took place near the village of Long Reach in Columbia and on the street of Howard High School.

“Crime knows no boundaries,” Hoffman said. “He doesn’t know any area and, as unfortunate as he is, even in the safest area he is not safe from crime.”

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information about the McLellan shooting, while a $3,000 reward is being offered for information about the shooting of the two teens.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call police at 410-313-STOP or [email protected].