SHOT OFFICER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

Deceased Suspect Had A History Of Violence

The Annapolis police officer who was shot during a Friday afternoon
drug raid in Eastport is out of the hospital and recovering at home, a
department spokesman said yesterday.

Police also say they seized about $1,000 worth of cocaine following
the shootout that left the suspect dead.

Lt. Brian Della said Officer 1st Class David Stokes, who was hit in
the leg during the 12:22 p.m. raid and flown to the Maryland Shock
Trauma Center in Baltimore, was released later that night. "He is
doing well," Lt. Della said at a news conference yesterday.

The apartment's lone occupant at the time of the raid, Richard Conway
Stern III, 25, began shooting at police officers as soon as they came
through the apartment door with a battering ram, Lt. Della said.

"The officers literally had taken (only) two steps into the apartment
before Mr. Stern opened fire," Lt. Della said. "Several rounds went
past the officers and did not strike anyone."

Lt. Della did not say how many of the eight officers on the warrant
enforcement team returned fire and he declined to say how many shots
Stern and the officers exchanged, or the caliber of the weapon that
Stern used. He did say that Stern used a semiautomatic handgun, and
police officers were carrying 9 mm firearms.

Officer Stokes has been on the force 41/2 years and has been part of
the Annapolis Special Emergency Team, the department's equivalent of a
SWAT team, for more than a year.

Besides being suspected of dealing drugs, Stern was wanted on a
violation of probation warrant, which resulted from his conviction for
robbing a cab driver with a handgun in 1999 in the Clay Street area of
Annapolis.

"The (search) warrant was considered a high-risk warrant and was
granted a no-knock status because intelligence indicated a firearm may
be present," Lt. Della said.

The matter is being investigated and, as is normal procedure in
shooting cases, the State's Attorney's Office will present the
findings to a grand jury for review, Lt. Della said.

Lt. Della said Stern was alone when the raid was executed, and
officers found 9.5 grams of cocaine with a street value of between
$900 and $1,000. He did not know which room Stern was in when the
shooting broke out.

Officer Stokes was the point man when the team went into the apartment
at 1000 Madison St.

"His training and his equipment saved himself and the other officers;
the first round struck Officer Stokes in the ballistic vest, and he
turned his attention to where the shots were coming from," Lt. Della
said.

"Three shots struck the ballistic shield he was carrying and another
shot struck him in the leg."

At the apartment complex where Stern died on Friday, things appeared
to be back to normal yesterday afternoon. Young men worked on their
cars in the parking lots, and only short pieces of the bright yellow
crime scene tape remained, tied to various posts and trees.

A young woman answered the door at the apartment where the shooting
happened, but said the family did not want to discuss the case.

Lt. Della said police did not evacuate occupants of surrounding
apartments before conducting the raid, since that would compromise the
"elements of stealth and surprise."

Mayor Ellen O. Moyer spoke with reporters on Friday, just outside the
apartment building.

"We have been pushing very hard to rid this city of illegal drugs and
illegal guns," she said. "This is one of the aggressive actions we
took today and the officers will continue to do that."

Local residents described the area at Madison and Brashears streets as
an "open-air drug market."

The last time an Annapolis officer was involved in a fatal shooting
was May 2006, when an officer shot a man who had taken a state
trooper's gun during a drug arrest on Admiral Drive near Bowman Court.

Friday's raid was the first time a city police officer has been
injured by gunfire in the line of duty in more than 14 years.