Court document: Hagerstown man used PCP before attempted murder, punching parked car

Hagerstown Police found bystanders restraining a city man Sunday evening after being called to a disturbance that resulted in the man being charged with attempted murder, according to charging documents filed in Washington County District Court.

Brandon Lamont Howard, 41, of Baltimore Street in Hagerstown, was charged Monday with the attempted second-degree murder of Lindsey S. Fisher, 34, of Hagerstown, after she was found with multiple stab wounds in a building on the east side of the first block of North Mulberry Street.

Fisher has since been treated and released from Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown, according to a Wednesday morning email from Hagerstown Police Lt. Rebecca Fetchu, department spokesperson.

Judge Eric W. Schaffer ordered Howard, who was still at a Baltimore hospital during Tuesday's bond hearings, to be held without bond and postponed a bond review hearing for Howard. Typically, defendants at bond reviews in the local District Court appear via video screen from the Washington County Detention Center. Schaffer is the District Court administrative judge for Washington and Frederick counties.

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Hagerstown Police briefly spoke with Fisher before she lost consciousness. She allegedly told officers Howard stabbed her inside an apartment at an address that is on the west side of the first block of North Mulberry Street, according to charging documents.

Fisher also allegedly said Howard had been smoking "dippers" in the apartment before the stabbing, charging documents state. The detective who filed the charging document noted that "dippers" is street slang for cigarettes dipped in PCP.

Police find blood inside, outside building on West Mulberry

Police responded to the first block of North Mulberry around 6:17 p.m. Sunday for a disturbance in the area of the address on the west side of that block.

The detective wrote in the charging documents that officers "eventually responded" to that address "shortly after the incident was reported." They found blood on the outside of the building and in an interior hallway leading to the front door of the apartment where Fisher said she was stabbed.

Police also contacted a man who "indicated" he saw a bloody Howard hit his vehicle parked in front of the address where Fisher was found, charging documents state. The man told police he confronted Howard and they fought.

The man directed police to the area of his car, where an open knife with a multicolored handle and a black blade was found under the passenger side front tire, charging documents state. Charging documents note the knife is believed to be the weapon used against Fisher.

Police spoke to at least two other witnesses.

One reported seeing Fisher running down the street from a man who had in his hand what she believed was a knife, charging documents state. The witness alleged the man was yelling, "I'm going to kill you. I don't care about the cops," according to court documents.

That witness later saw the man "punching and smearing blood all over a vehicle," before bystanders restrained him.

Another witness allegedly told police that he, Fisher and a man later identified as Howard were watching TV in the apartment when Howard started screaming and yelling, court records state. Fisher told the witness to leave the apartment so he went to another area of the building. At some point, the witness heard Fisher screaming so he went back to the apartment and saw the other man on top of Fisher, attacking her, according to court records.

The attacker then chased the witness down to the second floor and out the back door with the witness going to a friend's house, according to charging documents.

A Meritus Medical Center doctor advised police that Fisher had multiple stab wounds to her left arm, right forearm, left breast and left ear, and that she suffered a punctured lung, according to charging documents. Fisher's injuries were considered life-threatening.

In a news release Monday, police said Howard was injured during the second physical altercation — a reference to his fight with the owner of the car. Howard was taken to Meritus and later transferred to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore for further treatment, according to Fetchu.

Howard was in good condition at Shock Trauma as of Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson with the University of Maryland Medical System.

Howard also is charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: MD man facing attempted murder, assault charges in attack Sunday