A man has been charged with shooting and injuring a man at a 7-Eleven in Aspen Hill on Sunday, according to Montgomery County police.
Zekale Long, 41, of Silver Spring, has been charged with attempted murder after police say he shot at a man who was dating Long’s ex-girlfriend.
Officers were called to the 7-Eleven at 14101 Georgia Ave. around 3:18 a.m. for the report of a shooting, according to charging documents. Officers found two employees, a male and a female, in the store when they got to the scene.
Police said the two employees started dating two weeks ago and that the female employee was previously in a relationship with Long, according to charging documents.
When the female employee posted about her current relationship on Facebook recently, Long started “posting negative comments,” according to charging documents. Just after midnight on Sunday, Long went to the 7-Eleven and got into a “heated verbal argument” with the male employee, according to police. The man told police that Long tried to lure him into a fight in the parking lot. Long then left after a co-worker said they would call 911.
The male employee told police that Long returned to the store later and pointed a handgun at him, according to documents. The female employee tried to intervene but Long fired a shot and it grazed the man’s “right-side midsection,” according to police. The victim was treated by Montgomery County Fire & Rescue crews at the scene.
After reviewing surveillance footage, police determined that the woman tried to push Long away before he shot at the man. That action pushed Long’s extended arm away and might have been the reason that the man was only grazed by the bullet, according to police. Long then placed the gun in his pocket and walked out of the store.
Just after 8 a.m. Sunday, Long called 911 and said he wanted to turn himself in, according to police. Officers then took him into custody, at which point he told police that he shot the man and apologized, according to documents. Long also told police that he drove to a wooded area in Gaithersburg where he discarded his weapon, a privately made firearm, or ghost gun, that he had bought online and put together himself.
Long has been charged with one count each of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, according to court records. He was ordered held without bond Monday, according to Lauren DeMarco, a spokeswoman with the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Attorney information for Long was not available Monday.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media