Montgomery County Police have charged three teenagers in connection with a string of shootings in Germantown and Damascus from March 2024 through August 2025.
Police identified the suspects as Samuel Wisdom, 18, and Ai’Jai Tyrell Smith-Nelson, 17, both from Germantown, and Jaden Ochieng, 17, of Clarksburg. Detectives say the three are linked to several shootings, including one in the Damascus Gardens neighborhood that left a man seriously injured.
Officers first responded to reports of gunfire on August 18, 2025, in the 18800 block of Bent Willow Circle and the 20800 block of Gaelic Court in Germantown. Investigators said a vehicle carrying three women was struck by bullets. No one was hurt.
Detectives later identified Wisdom as the suspect in that case. He is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and multiple firearms-related offenses.
Three days later, on August 21, officers were called to the 9800 block of Bethesda Church Road in Damascus for reports of shots fired. They found shell casings, property damage, and a victim nearby suffering serious injuries.
Investigators said all three suspects were seen together later that day at a 7-Eleven on Walter Johnson Drive in Germantown. Officers arrested Smith-Nelson and Ochieng at the store and recovered two handguns ballistically linked to the Damascus shooting.
Police said Ochieng has also been charged in earlier shootings near Neelsville Middle School and Crystal Rock Drive in 2024.
Wisdom and Smith-Nelson are being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit. Ochieng remains in custody in another jurisdiction.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers of Montgomery County at 1-866-411-TIPS(8477) or submit a tip online at www.crimesolversmcmd
