St. Mary's Co. Officer Involved Shooting in Lexington Park

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On January 27, 2020, deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 19800 block of Three Notch Road in Lexington Park, for the reported domestic assault, property destruction and homicidal threats. Once on scene officers were advised by the victim that John Francis Tippett Jr., age 43 of Lexington Park, had access to several weapons and had made threats to harm himself and shoot responding police. Tippett broke out the windshield of the victim`s vehicle while she was attempting to flee the area. Deputies confirmed Tippett had multiple warrants for his arrest. While interviewing the victim, nearby officers heard numerous shots being fired by the suspect. Several 911 calls were received reporting shots being fired in the area.

Deputies and troopers attempted to contain Tippett and heard shots being fired. St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Hostage Negotiations Team responded to the scene and began speaking with Tippett. Tippett went in and out of the residence multiple times, each time shooting at police as well as a compressed gas tank in the driveway. During the encounter, deputies subsequently returned fire striking Tippett. Life saving measures were immediately attempted but Tippett succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased. After securing the scene a suspicious bag was discovered in the driveway prompting the request for the response of the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Tippett will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

The investigation is ongoing and updates will be provided as warranted.

For official news and information follow the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office on Twitter @firstsheriff.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.

 

[frequentflier]

Glad the bad guy isn't around to be a bad guy any more. Also glad none of the deputies were hurt.
And the whole controversy about their pay...(IMHO) they deserve a lot more than they are getting!

 

[frequentflier]

BuMp

 

[BernieP]

I'd only be upset to learn they needed to fire more than two rounds.
You know bullets cost money, that's why we stress marksmanship.

 

[baxter]

This asshat had a record that could stretch from Leonardtown to Ridge and back, twice! Good Ridden..... now lets look back at the Judges that continued to let him off the hooK

 

[BernieP]

This asshat had a record that could stretch from Leonardtown to Ridge and back, twice! Good Ridden..... now lets look back at the Judges that continued to let him off the hooK

Look at the law and see if the legislature imposed sentencing guidelines .
Many states took discretion out of the hands of the judiciary and forced them to stat within the guidance they put in the law.
There is also the State's Attorney and what they asked for. Most often the judge will strongly consider their request.
Just trying to be fair to the judges who get a bum deal on these types of things. Judges are not an island to themselves, they have their reviewers and the State's Attorney is part of that. If they don't like the sentence, they can take it up. The defense can't argue much unless they go outside the guidelines.

 

[officeguy]

Hey, its not all bad, they got to use their tank* !








* yes dear I know, its not a tank its a 'tactical thingmabob'

 

[Tommy Chong]

"There is also the State's Attorney and what they asked for. Most often the judge will strongly consider their request.
Just trying to be fair to the judges who get a bum deal on these types of things. Judges are not an island to themselves, they have their reviewers and the State's Attorney is part of that. If they don't like the sentence, they can take it up. The defense can't argue much unless they go outside the guidelines."

This right heres most of the problem. The good ol boy system in the court needs scrutiny. If you to the district court before proceedings start for the day you can watch them carrying on like there at a cocktail party.

 

[BernieP]

This right heres most of the problem. The good ol boy system in the court needs scrutiny. If you to the district court before proceedings start for the day you can watch them carrying on like there at a cocktail party.

I would not call it the good ole boy system. It's pretty common in most lower courts that state and defense will confer.
Hell in traffic court the state or the officer will offer a deal to just get you to plea, makes the judge happy to clear the docket faster.
When it comes to sentencing the judge will ask if there are priors, I've never seen a judge just pass on what the state requests, they will ask questions about the proposed sentence, including probation or treatment, fines and court costs.
While people appearing before the court may have priors, the judge when passing the sentence is also looking at danger to the community.
That's why you'll see non-violent offenders getting turned out a bit early, the are aware of over crowding the jail.
The jail, a place nobody wants to waste taxpayer dollars but everyone wants people put there. That's a political decision.

 

[BernieP]

BTW, if you want to see favoritism in action, it's the states attorney's office. They often don't file charges for certain people, typically children, when there parent(s) are prominent members of the community AND a record would exclude a child from their likely career.
Read into that what you want. But we all know damn right well, there are some not so well kept secrets about certain children running wild but never getting charged.