The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division will not seek charges in a Baltimore County fatal shooting during which three police officers fired their weapons, striking two people, according to a press release.
Police officers responded to a reported domestic disturbance at a Parkville home in November, where they encountered Maxine Redfern, 48, and Arnel Redfern, 52. Body-camera videos show that gunfire erupted shortly after the front door opened and that Maxine’s husband, Arnel Redfern, shot at her multiple times. Three officers — Christopher Schanberger, Andrew Burns and Andrew G. Langley — fired back at the house.
Langley and Burns had been at the department for 22 years. Schanberger joined the department in 2015. They were all temporarily put on administrative lease.
According to the investigative report, Schanberger was the first officer to arrive on the scene. He knocked on the door around 11:37 p.m. and Maxine Redfern began to repeatedly scream for help as she opened it. Her husband Arnel Redfern shot three rounds at her with a .40 caliber handgun, and she fell to the ground inside the home, according to the report.
Schanberger then retreated to the left side of the porch. Burns arrived “nearly simultaneously,” according to the report, and took cover near his cruiser’s trunk. Langley parked behind him and retrieved a rifle.
Arnel Redfern began walking onto the front porch. Schanberger then fired three times, shattering the screen door glass. Arnel Redfern then backed into the house and fired at Maxine Redfern again, according to the report.
The investigative report said several things then happened at once: Burns fired at Arnel Redfern twice, while Schanberger jumped from the porch and ran to a car on a neighboring driveway for cover. Maxine Redfern could be heard inside struggling to breathe.
Arnel Redfern and the officers fired at each other for about 40 seconds. Schanberger fired eight rounds, Burns fired 16 rounds and Langley fired six. Arnel Redfern fired eight rounds, according to the report.
About five minutes later, a supervisor arrived at the scene and the police officers decided to form an “entry team” and use a “ballistic shield” to approach the house. They found Arnel Redfern unresponsive on the front porch with a handgun beneath his torso. Maxine Redfern was also unresponsive just inside the door. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Maxine Redfern’s autopsy found that she was struck with 15 gunshot wounds on her upper and right lower back, chest, abdomen, arms, thigh and lower leg. Arnel Redfern’s autopsy showed he suffered five gunshot wounds.
Nine-millimeter bullets recovered from both bodies were consistent with Burns’ handguns, according to the report.
The attorney general considered this case for intentional use of excessive force, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors would have had to prove Burns intentionally used excessive force or acted with negligence.
They found officers were acting in self-defense and in defense of Maxine Redfern, and did not have reasonable time to de-escalate tactics or alternatives to deadly force. Burns arrived at the scene after Arnel Redfern had already shot his wife at least three times. Burns also had a valid self-defense claim.
Police said at the time they had been dispatched to the home “multiple times” before on domestic abuse reports. Maxine Redfern was seeking a divorce and had been granted a protective order from her husband. The protective order forbade him from abusing and threatening her and required him to surrender all firearms. Arnel Redfern had previously been convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon in 1991 and should have been precluded from owning a firearm.
Correction: This story’s headline has been updated to correct the name of the community where the shooting occurred.
