Police were called around midnight last October 8 for a report of a fight with shots fired at the store located in the 3200 block of North Ridge Road in Ellicott City. Officers arrived and after a brief chase, stopped a vehicle in which Matthew Allen Spencer, 23 of Baltimore, was a passenger. Spencer suffered from a gunshot wound to the side of his face.
Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Ritter told the court that Walmart surveillance video showed the two men had some sort of verbal and non-verbal interaction as Eason entered and Spencer exited the store. Spencer then returned to the store for another interaction resulting in Eason pulling something later determined to be a handgun from his waistband, raising his arm and shooting Spencer.
Ritter stated that a Howard County auxiliary police officer in the parking lot observed Spencer leave the store, go to a nearby vehicle, pull a .380 caliber rifle from the trunk and fire nine shots at the Walmart sign above the store before fleeing. Eason, who ran from the store, was arrested on October 13 after Spencer identified him during a police photo array. A search of Eason’s residence recovered a .25 caliber handgun determined to be the weapon used in the shooting.
Judge McCrone sentenced Eason to 25 years in prison, suspending all but 10 years for the attempted second-degree murder of Matthew Spencer. Eason was also sentenced to a concurrent sentence of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge, five of which are without the possibility of parole. Upon his eventual release, he will serve five years of supervised probation.
The shooting victim, Matthew Spencer, of the 100 block of Hillvale Road, Baltimore, was subsequently indicted on seven counts of reckless endangerment and one count of prohibited discharge of a gun. His trial is scheduled for July 10.