UPDATE: Officer in Shooting Near Redland Middle School is Identified

Montgomery County Police have identified the officer involved in Wednesday morning's shooting as Dana Dabbondanza. Dabbondanza is a four-year veteran of the county police department assigned to the 6th District.

Original post, Feb. 23:

An off-duty county police officer shot a man in the leg near Redland Middle School in Derwood after a traffic stop early Wednesday morning. 

Neither the man nor the officer who shot him has been named. The man was taken to a local trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

A Maryland-National Capital Park Police officer stopped a 2002 Toyota Corolla carrying four men at about 1:30 a.m. in the 6500 block of Muncaster Mill Road, said Lucille Baur, a county police spokeswoman.

ABC 7 News reported that the car was stopped because its tags were not visible.

As the officer approached the car he smelled the odor of marijuana, Baur said. While the officer was radioing for help, the man sitting in the rear seat on the driver’s side fled from the vehicle, she said.

An on-duty county K-9 officer and an off-duty county patrol officer responded to the scene. The K-9 officer tracked the fleeing suspect. He was eventually located in a nearby neighborhood adjacent the Intercounty Connector, Baur said.

Meanwhile, as the driver was being handcuffed by the park police officer, the remaining backseat passenger got out of the car, police said.

The off-duty officer gave commands to the passenger, who did not comply and reached for his waistband, Baur said.

“He made a reach for his waistband and she discharged her service weapon multiple times, striking him at least one time,” Capt. Paul Starks, a county police spokesman, told ABC 7 News.

The county police department’s Major Crimes Division is investigating the shooting.

“What exactly was said is still part of the investigation,” Baur said. “We can’t say exactly what was said. We still need to get information from the officer and from the suspect.”

The suspect was later found to have hidden “multiple individually-wrapped packages of marijuana in his waistband,” according to a police news release.

The Maryland-National Capital Park Police are investigating the drug-related allegations. 

“The suspects’ names will be released after charges have been placed,” the release said. Both the suspects’ and the officer’s names are expected to be released Thursday, Baur said. 

The officer is described as a four-year veteran of the county police force. She has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, as is standard procedure.

The incident is the second shooting involving county police in less than a week.

On Saturday, after police said the man assaulted a mall security officer and then failed to follow orders to drop an ice pick he was carrying.