gaithersblog.net

According to the Gazette,

Adol T. Owen-Williams II withdrew his candidacy on Monday afternoon — the last day candidates were allowed to do so — and was replaced by Stephen N. Abrams, who was nominated by the Republican Central Committee that night to fill the spot.

The change ended a week of speculation and intraparty negotiations to devise a stronger GOP ballot, said Tom Reinheimer, county GOP president and an at-large council candidate.

Abrams ran an unsucessful campaign for the Republican nomination  in the state comptroller race.

I’m just trying to help…

‘‘We have no one opposed to us. The only reason we have not pulled together is because there is no opposition, and that’s why the newspapers are not covering it,” state Del. Jean B. Cryor (R-Dist. 15) of Potomac told members of the Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board last week.

‘‘I actually suggested once that we hire some people who opposed us to create some controversy,” she said.

Send me an email, Jean, and we can discuss rates… :-)

Update: as Dan points out in the comments,  BeyondDC has some (I assume) honest criticism of the CCT.

Over on The New MoCo Progressive, there was continued discussion of the Post’s Editorial excoriating Gaithersburg for its inaction on building a day labor center. One anonymous commenter, addressing him or herself to another anonymous commenter, said “Your comment just proves that the immigrant-haters do NOT distinguish between U.S. Citizens of Latino heritage, like Gov. Richardson, and Illegal Immigrants. The haters just hate anybody with a Latino background.” This got me kind of annoyed, and I wrote this response,

anon 8:31:

While I have no idea what legal voter’s mindset is, I think that you’re drawing conclusions from awfully thin evidence. Also, “immigrant-hater” is argumentative and inflammatory. There is no proof that anyone posting to this forum “hates” immigrants, legal or otherwise.

I myself am disappointed — and occasionally get angry — with anyone who shows a lack of respect for other people, their culture and their property, and I apply this symmetrically. I’m often disappointed with the Minutemen, for example, especially when they seem to be demonizing entire groups of people in an unfair manner. I’m also often angry with people who feel that they have no obligation to respect local cultural norms when visiting places away from their home. This includes both “Ugly American” tourists (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American if you don’t understand the reference) as well as Latino immigrants who pee on churches and fail to learn enough conversational English to get by after more than a decade in this foreign land.

Note, please, that my anger is specifically targeted to those who do these things. I actually do patronize several of the Hispanic stores and restaurants in Gaithersburg and it always brings a huge smile to my face when the clerk is so clearly trying his or her best to conduct the transaction in English — to become a real, integral part of the community. But at the same time I really appreciate efforts by the immigrants to share their culture with us in a positive manner.

I don’t know if you’ve ever attended the annual mass-naturalization ceremony at Gaithersburg’s Olde Towne day, but it is a truly inspiring event and I challenge anyone to watch it without getting a little choked up. This is not hate, it is not racism. This is wanting everyone to respect each other, to play by the rules and and to get along. I can usually look the other way when someone breaks a rule here or there; I’m not sure I know anyone who never breaks any rules. But when someone routinely breaks both the rules and the customs, disrespects others and generally makes no attempt to fit in to the community, then I have a problem. And I really do wish you could understand the difference between that and hate.

According to the Washington Post,

After three tours in Afghanistan, Army Ranger Michael Anthony McQueen was weeks away from a new life out of the Army, and gearing up to start college.

“He was a great young man,” a vigorous athlete who had matured enormously during his stints in war zones, said his father, Mike. “He had a bright future.”

McQueen, 22, was found dead of gunshot wounds Tuesday morning in his Gaithersburg apartment, according to a law enforcement source.

[…]

Ray Moon, 42, who lives in the building, said he heard doors being slammed at McQueen’s unit early Tuesday, and then he saw McQueen’s roommate race from the building. “He comes out here with his cellphone, crying in hysterics,” Moon said. “He was talking about some Army buddy of his.”

Police arrived quickly, entered the apartment and interviewed the roommate, Moon said. Officers stayed at the apartment building for several hours.

Mike McQueen, who visited the apartment yesterday afternoon with homicide detectives, said his son’s roommate had been the young man’s sergeant. McQueen declined to comment further, saying detectives have asked him not to discuss details of the case.

[…]

Update: Another article on this tragic story, this one in the Miami Herald:

McQueen had recently returned to the United States from overseas and was making plans for life as a civilian, his parents said. He was to leave the Army next month after serving as a specialist with the 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning, Ga., assigned as an intelligence analyst.

‘’He was excited about the next phase in his life; he was going to start school and was hoping his high-security clearance would help him get a part-time job with the military or a contractor,'’ said Mike McQueen, a former editor at The Miami Herald.

McQueen was also a one-time chair of Florida International University’s Department of Journalism and Broadcasting, an assistant city editor at the Sun-Sentinel and managing editor of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. He is currently The Associated Press’ bureau chief in New Orleans.

[…]

The circumstances surrounding Michael McQueen’s death remain under investigation, according to Montgomery County, Md., police. The cause of the shooting is undetermined, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators were trying to determine whether McQueen shot himself intentionally or by accident or if his death is a homicide. His roommate, a fellow soldier who served with him in Afghanistan, was in the apartment at the time of the shooting and has been questioned by police.

Update 2: Jaime Ciavarra writes in the Gazette:

Michael Anthony McQueen, a 22-year-old Army Ranger who returned in August from his third tour in Afghanistan, was found dead last week in his Gaithersburg apartment with apparent gunshot wounds.

[…]

Karen and Ray Moon, who live in the Streamside Apartments on the 400 block of North Summit Avenue where McQueen was found, say they heard a door slam four or five times in the early morning.

The Moons then heard McQueen’s roommate — who police have not identified — hysterical, yelling, ‘‘My roommate’s dead” as police arrived, they said.

Other neighbors on the second floor of the apartment, where McQueen’s unit is now roped off with police tape, say they didn’t hear anything that early morning — no struggle, gunshots, or screams.

Update 3: The St. Augustine Record has an obituary and a photo:

Sgt. Michael A. McQueen II, a U.S. Army Ranger, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006, in Gaithersburg, Md. Sgt. McQueen is a descendant of the Eubanks family of Lincolnville and Collier Heights in St. Augustine, Florida.

Sgt. McQueen had just returned from his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, where he had worked as a military intelligence analyst with the 75th Ranger Regiment. While in the States, Sgt. McQueen had been based at Fort Benning, Georgia.

This was Sgt. McQueenĂ­s last tour of duty overseas and he was in Maryland preparing to enroll in January in the University of the District of Columbia, where he intended to study for a bachelor’s degree. He is a 2002 graduate of North Miami Beach High School.

Update 4: A reader of this blog has learned from the Gaithersburg Police Department that, as of October 16, 2006, this case remains under investigation by Montgomery County Homicide Investigators.

Update 5: I’ve received another update saying that as of October 31, 2006, Montgomery County Police still have nothing to release on this ongoing investigation.

Update 6: MCPD has made an arrest in this case:

Update - September Undetermined Death in Gaithersburg Classified as Homicide

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Major Crimes Division – Homicide/Sex Section have been investigating the undetermined death that occurred in Gaithersburg, on Tuesday, September 26. The victim, Michael Anthony McQueen, age 22, of the 400 block of North Summit Avenue, was found deceased in the residence.

On September 26, at 12:56 a.m., 6th District and Gaithersburg City Police officers responded to the report of a suspicious situation in the 400 block of North Summit Avenue.
Upon arrival, they found McQueen. He appeared to be suffering from a gunshot wound, but no gun was found at the scene.

Today, Gary James Smith, age 24, formerly of the 400 block of North Summit Avenue, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Through the course of the investigation and after forensic testing and evaluation, probable cause for developed to charge Smith, McQueen’s roommate. The motive for the shooting is not known.

Smith was taken to the Montgomery County Detention Center. Bond information is not available at this time.

Update 7: Ernesto Londoño writes in the Washington Post,

According to a charging document, Smith gave police conflicting stories about the shooting. He initially told detectives that he found McQueen sitting in the living room of the apartment, suffering from a gunshot wound.

He then told detectives that he had dropped McQueen off at home after they had drinks at local bars, then left home to run some errands and returned, finding McQueen dead with a gun in his hand.

Smith told detectives he panicked and drove to a nearby lake — the apartment is near Lake Needwood — to discard the gun.

In a third version of events, Smith told detectives that McQueen shot himself while Smith was in the bathroom. He again said he threw the gun in a lake.

Update 8: Ernesto Londoño writes in the Washington Post:

A former U.S. Army Ranger accused of fatally shooting his roommate, who also was his subordinate, says the younger soldier committed suicide in their Gaithersburg apartment and that he initially lied to detectives because he “freaked out,” his lawyers said yesterday.

Investigators say they found bloodstains on one of Smith’s sneakers and a pant leg and gunshot residue on his hands.

Andrew V. Jezic, Smith’s attorney, said McQueen, 22, was distraught over a recent breakup with his girlfriend and described the two roommates as close friends who had no reason to fight.

McQueen said his son was not distressed over the split and disputed the defense lawyer’s characterization of the soldiers’ relationship.

“He had never been in Michael’s circle of friends,” McQueen said yesterday in a phone interview. “The first time I ever saw Gary Smith’s face was in a mug shot.”

Update 9: From the Gazette, Soldier was killed by his roommate, police say, by Jaime Ciavarra

District Court Judge Barry Hamilton ruled that Smith was not a flight risk and set bond at $250,000 provided he stayed with his parents in Rockville. Smith posted bond and was released Saturday.

McQueen’s father called the bond decision ‘‘unfair.”

‘‘I can’t recall, in 30 years of covering trials, a person being released on bond in first-degree murder,” Michael McQueen, bureau chief of the Associated Press in New Orleans, said by phone Monday.

McQueen and his wife learned of Smith’s arrest shortly after it happened Thursday. They did not have time to fly to Maryland to be at Friday’s hearing, and he said his absence was likely noticeable.

Several supporters of Smith came to the hearing, and a friend of the family spoke.

‘‘We had no opportunity to respond to this in any way, shape or form,” McQueen said.