Samuel Wisdom

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A trio of teens — one of whom ripped off a court-ordered ankle monitor just hours before a shooting spree — has been arrested and charged in connection with a violent string of gunfire that shook Maryland neighborhoods.

Samuel Wisdom, 18, along with 17-year-olds Ai’Jai Tyrell Smith-Nelson, both of Germantown, and Jaden Ochieng, of Clarksburg, are accused of taking part in multiple shootings between March 2024 and August 2025, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police on Friday, Oct. 31.

Detectives said the first round of gunfire broke out around 2:42 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, in the 18800 block of Bent Willow Circle in Germantown, after a caller reported hearing a shot and a woman screaming. 

Roughly an hour later, at 3:41 a.m., officers rushed to Gaelic Court, where an SUV carrying three women was struck by bullets — but no one was hurt.

Through the investigation, detectives identified Wisdom as the shooter. 

Police said he has been charged with: 

  • Three counts of attempted first-degree murder;
  • Three counts of first-degree assault;
  • Reckless endangerment;
  • Multiple firearms offenses.

Days later, the violence spread to Damascus Gardens, where officers were called to the 9800 block of Bethesda Church Road just before 6:48 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21 for reports of shots fired. 

A victim was found nearby in the Brigadier Place neighborhood and taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Detectives later linked Wisdom, Smith-Nelson, and Ochieng to that shooting. 

The trio was spotted together shortly after at a 7-Eleven on Walter Johnson Drive in Germantown, police said.

When officers moved in, Ochieng bolted but was caught moments later. A loaded black 9mm Glock was recovered on him — later ballistically matched to the Damascus shooting. 

Smith-Nelson was taken into custody inside the store, where police said they found a Taurus PT111 semiautomatic handgun on him, also tied to the same shooting.

Both were arrested without incident.

Police said Ochieng was already no stranger to violence — allegedly involved in two separate Germantown shootings in 2024, including an attempted shooting of a student getting off a school bus near Neelsville Middle School and another incident where he allegedly fired at someone sitting on a park bench on Crystal Rock Drive.

When officers later tried to arrest Ochieng at Northwest High School, they said he was carrying a loaded firearm that matched shell casings from both earlier shootings — and one other in the region.

Perhaps most chilling, investigators noted that on the day of the Aug. 21, shootings, Ochieng had a court-ordered ankle monitor removed that very morning.

All three suspects remain in custody — Wisdom and Smith-Nelson at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, and Ochieng in another jurisdiction, police said.

The investigations remain ongoing.