Shooting Suspect
Pleads Guilty
SNOW HILL The second of two
men implicated in a downtown
shooting in Ocean City in June
pleaded guilty this week to second-
degree assault, all but one of which
was then suspended.
Carwin Duarte, 29, of Reading,
Pa., pleaded guilty on Monday to
second-degree assault for his role
in the June 29 shooting incident in
downtown Ocean City. Duarte was
sentenced to three years in jail, all
but one of which was suspended.
He was also fined $500 and placed
on probation for two years upon his
release. The shooter in the incident,
Elvin Mendez-Espada, 20, also of
Reading, last week entered an
Alford plea to one count of attempt-
ed second-degree murder, two
counts of first-degree assault and
the use of a handgun in the com-
mission of a felony and now awaits
his fate pending the outcome of a
pre-sentence investigation. Sen-
tencing for Mendez-Espada has
been set for March 11.
Around 2:10 a.m. on June 29,
OCPD officers in and around the
18th Street area on different patrol
assignments heard shots fired near-
by. The investigation revealed a
group of six individuals including
four males and two females had
gotten off a bus at 28th Street and
were walking south along Coastal
Highway toward 11th Street.
When the group passed the
Islander Motel at 18th Street, they
interacted with another group of
individuals in and around the motel
pool, which sits in a fenced-in court-
yard adjacent to the highway.
Words were exchanged, but no
physical altercation occurred at that
time. However, one member of the
group walking south heard the
members of the group in and
around the pool discussing going
after the other group.
According to the statement of
facts, Mendez-Espada followed the
group and more words were
exchanged, at which point he lifted
his shirt and revealed a semi-auto-
matic handgun in his waistband. He
then pulled out the gun and pointed
it at one of the males in the group
and said something to the effect of
"what are you going to say now,"
according to the statement of facts.
When male members of the
group saw the gun pointed at their
friend, one of them punched
Mendez-Espada, knocking him into
a fence. Mendez-Espada recovered
and fired two shots, neither of which
struck any of the victims. Two male
members of the group then grabbed
Mendez-Espada, who was still hold-
ing the gun, and put him in a bear
hug. Mendez-Espada's friend, later
identified as Duarte, then punched
one of the male victims with
Mendez-Espada in between them.
Mendez-Espada then fired at least
two more shots. One of the victims
was shot through his pants leg and
was grazed on his calf. Another vic-
tim was shot in the thigh near the
groin. It was later determined the
shot narrowly missed a major artery
in the victim's leg. The victim was
transported to PRMC.
Following the shootings, Men-
dez-Espada and Duarte fled the
scene, but Duarte was found a short
time later. Mendez-Espada ran
north to the area of Dolphin Street
where he jumped in the bay. OCPD
officers surrounded the area block-
ing all escape routes and waited
until daylight to retrieve Mendez-
Espada from the canal where he
was found hiding near a bulkhead.
Probation, Fine In Attack
SNOW HILL A Connecticut
man, arrested in July on assault and
other charges after pulling a knife
on and nearly stabbing a resort bar
owner during a scuffle, pleaded
guilty last week to reckless endan-
germent and was placed on proba-
tion and fined.
Around 1:40 a.m. on July 22,
Ocean City Police were dispatched
to the Sandbar Karaoke Lounge on
33rd Street for a reported fight in
progress. When the officer arrived,
she observed three men, including
bar owner Eric Thompson and two
employees, holding down a third
man, later identified as Justin J.
Parlow, 22, of Derby, Conn.
One of the employees pointed to
some nearby bushes and told the
officer "the knife is in there," accord-
ing to police reports. The officer
interviewed Thompson, who told
police just before their arrival, Par-
low had been involved in a physical
altercation with other patrons out-
side of the bar. Thompson told po-
lice when he went outside to break
up the fight, Parlow "bear hugged"
him and tackled him to the ground.
The victim said at one point when
he was trying to wrestle away from
Parlow on the ground, the suspect
pulled out a folding knife, opened
the blade and pushed it toward his
left thigh.
The victim told police he could
feel the blade of the knife touch his
thigh after Parlow pulled it out and
pushed it toward him. Thompson
told police he thought Parlow was
going to stab him. Thompson said at
that point, bouncer Tyler Lundy and
several other bar employees and
patrons jumped on Parlow to try to
wrestle the knife from his right hand.
Lundy told police Parlow and his
girlfriend had gotten into an argu-
ment with another couple outside
the bar and that Parlow's girlfriend
had assaulted the male half of the
other couple.
Lundy said at that point, Thomp-
son came out to break up the fight
and Parlow wrestled him to the
ground. The bouncer said as
Thompson was trying to push Par-
low off of him, the suspect pulled
out the knife and pushed it toward
Thompson's thigh.
Lundy said he and other bar
patrons jumped on Parlow and he
was eventually able to kick the knife
from the suspect's hand and then
threw it in the bushes out of
Parlow's reach.
Lundy told police he was in fear
for his own life and for Thompson's
life. Several other witnesses corrob-
orated the victims' account of the
incident. Another OCPD officer
recovered the weapon, a folding
knife with a three-inch blade, in the
bushes. Parlow was arrested and
charged with first-degree assault,
second-degree assault and openly
carrying a dangerous weapon with
intent to injure.
Last week, Parlow pleaded guilty
to reckless endangerment and was
placed on probation for two years
and fined $500.
No New Jail Time
For Knife Threat
SNOW HILL A Salisbury man,
arrested in June after threatening
two individuals with a knife in down-
town Ocean City, pleaded guilty this
week to second-degree assault and
was sentenced to 18 months in jail,
all of which was suspended.
Around 2:25 a.m. on June 22,
two individuals, a 21-year-old male
and a 22-year-old male, both of
Philadelphia, approached an OCPD
officer on patrol in the 2nd Street
area and reported they had just
been assaulted by a group of male
suspects who had then fled the
scene. The victims told police one of
the suspects had presented a knife
and threatened them with it.
OCPD officers on the scene were
able to quickly obtain a description
of the suspects and the vehicle in
which they were traveling and the
information was broadcasted over
police radio. A short time later,
OCPD officers spotted the sus-
pects' vehicle heading north on Bal-
timore Ave. and stopped it near 2nd
Street. Each of the occupants of the
vehicle were detained and ques-
tioned by police.
OCPD officers were able to
determine one of the suspects,
identified as Anthony Hardy, Jr., 19,
of Salisbury, was in possession of
the knife used during the assault
and the weapon was seized as evi-
dence.
Hardy was charged with two
counts each of first-degree assault,
second-degree assault, reckless
endangerment, possession of a
dangerous weapon with intent to in-
jure and concealing a dangerous
weapon.
This week in Circuit Court, Hardy
pleaded guilty to one count of sec-
ond-degree assault and was sen-
tenced to 18 months in jail, all but
one day of which was then sus-
pended.
He was then given credit for one
day spent in jail awaiting trial, net-
ting no new jail time. Hardy was
also placed on probation for three
years and fined $500.
Page 24
January 17, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
Cops & Courts
Salisbury
701 East Naylor Mill Road
410-677-0350