October 21st, 2016 by WCBC Radio

The Office of the State’s Attorney for Allegany County, Michael O. Twigg, State’s Attorney, announced on Friday, that Marquise Lanard Holt, 25 of Baltimore, was sentenced in the Allegany County Circuit Court by the Honorable Judge Jeffrey Getty to 62 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections for his role in a shooting that took place March 30, 2016 at the Ft. Cumberland Housing Community.  Holt was convicted following a jury trial in July of two counts of attempted first degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit first degree murder, three counts of first degree assault and other related offenses.

On the evening of March 30, 2016, a shooting occurred at Fort Cumberland Homes in Cumberland.  Cumberland City Police initially responded and determined no one had been struck by the gun fire.  The C3I Unit began their investigation and it was learned that Holt was with a group of men who went there with the purpose of attempting to kill two residents of the public housing unit, and fired several shots from a handgun at their intended victims.

In addition to Holt, five other individuals were charged relating to the incident and have all been convicted for their respective roles:

 

·         Mark Brown, Attempted First Degree Murder, 40 years

·         David Kesler, Conspiracy to commit First Degree Assault, 20 years suspending all but 12 years

·         Timothy Bobby Miller, Conspiracy to commit Second Degree Assault, 10 years suspending all but five years

·         Alexis Fisher, Accessory After the Fact, pending sentencing

·         Nickoli Cackus, Conspiracy to commit Second Degree Assault, pending sentencing

 

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Erich Bean, a prosecutor in the case “This violent incident seriously offended our community and will not be tolerated here.  To take guns into a public housing community at dusk, where children were playing outside, and fire shots into a group of people, we should all be very thankful no one was struck, hurt or killed.  Everyone involved has now been held accountable and I hope the message is clear to others who would consider doing something like this.”