Howard County police said the early Monday shooting involved people who knew each other and came mostly from outside the county.
COLUMBIA, MD — One man was killed and six people were wounded Monday morning when gunfire broke out during an illegal car rally inside a Columbia parking garage, Howard County police said.
The shooting turned a private business garage into the center of a homicide investigation and renewed concern over illegal car rallies in Maryland. Police said the event drew as many as 50 people, many from Virginia, and investigators were still working to identify who fired shots, who was hit and why the violence began.
Officers were called at about 5:27 a.m. April 27 to a parking garage in the 6700 block of Alexander Bell Drive after a report that someone had been shot. When officers arrived, they found 24-year-old Leo Noel Balladares-Arita, of Falls Church, Virginia, dead at the scene. An adult woman was taken from the garage to a hospital with injuries police described as not life-threatening. Over the next several hours, hospitals reported more walk-in gunshot victims believed to be tied to the same shooting. Howard County police said in an update that a sixth injured victim later walked into a Virginia hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
Police said the shooting appeared to grow out of an illegal car rally, not a random attack on the public. Investigators believe many of the people at the gathering knew each other and were not Howard County residents. Police said many appeared to have traveled from the Fairfax, Virginia, area. No guns were recovered at the garage, and officials said the building did not have security cameras, leaving detectives to rely on witnesses, hospital reports and other evidence. Authorities had not announced any arrests by Tuesday morning. They also had not released the names of the six surviving victims. Local reports, citing police, said the wounded included young adults and a teenage girl.
The shooting happened in a business area of Columbia, a planned community in Howard County between Baltimore and Washington. Police said the garage may have been chosen because it is set back from busier roads and lacks surveillance cameras. Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the department works with the Maryland Car Rally Task Force and tracks social media to find illegal rallies before they happen. Police said this gathering was not on their radar before the gunfire. Officials have said illegal car rallies in the county are down 66% since 2013, but Monday’s shooting showed that the events remain hard to stop when they move quickly or are organized outside public view.
Maryland has taken steps in recent years to crack down on illegal street racing, exhibition driving and large car rallies that block roads or fill parking lots. A state law passed in 2024 made exhibition driving and street racing illegal and helped launch the Maryland Car Rally Task Force. Police in several counties have reported arrests tied to earlier rallies, including cases involving loaded guns. In January, five people, including four teenagers, were arrested after police broke up several illegal car rallies in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard and Prince George’s counties. In February, two Pennsylvania men were arrested after an illegal rally in Prince George’s County, where police said a gun and ammunition were found in a car.
Investigators were still sorting out the sequence of the shooting, including whether more than one person fired and what dispute led to the gunfire. Police described the incident as a shootout involving multiple people. The lack of recovered weapons and the absence of cameras inside the garage may slow the investigation. Detectives were expected to review nearby video, interview people who were at the rally and compare hospital reports with evidence from the garage. Police asked anyone with information to contact Howard County police through the department’s tip line or crime tips email. Officials had not said when the next major update would be released.
The shooting also drew reaction from people familiar with car meet culture and nearby residents who said the gatherings have changed. Jimmy Hedgespeth, who said he used to attend meet-ups to show off his Mustang, said the events have become more dangerous. “Car rallies used to be about meeting people, talking to car shop,” Hedgespeth said. “Now it’s just about doing donuts and acting up.” Howard County resident Timothy Small said officials should take stronger action if violent behavior tied to rallies continues to move into the area. The garage was quiet after police cleared the scene, but the shooting left bullet evidence, unanswered questions and a homicide case that reached across state lines.
As of Tuesday, police had identified Balladares-Arita as the man killed and said six others were hurt. No suspects had been publicly named, and detectives were continuing to investigate the April 27 shooting.
Author note: Last updated Tuesday, April 28, 2026.