On Friday, Charles County Sheriff’s Office’s detectives arrested James Francis Swann, 32, of Reistertown, for the murder of Joseph Gilford Hickman.
On Oct. 3 deputies responded to the 3300 block of Ryon Court in Waldorf for the report of shots fired. Upon arrival, deputies discovered Hickman lying on the front step of the residence with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
On Oct. 4, the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on the deceased and determined the manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was a gunshot wound.
Sheriff’s deputies stopped a vehicle exiting the neighborhood as they were responding to the neighborhood of the shooting. That vehicle was owned by Swann. Swann was questioned briefly by deputies that night and was released after deputies seized his vehicle.
Responding detectives and evidence technicians recovered ballistic evidence indicating the murder weapon was a .45 caliber handgun. A search of the nearby wooded area resulted in a recovery of a partial box of .45 caliber ammunition. Evidence technicians recovered latent fingerprints from that box and the latent fingerprints matched the known prints of Swann.
Homicide detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Swann and took him into custody when he came to the Sheriff’s Office to recover his vehicle on Oct. 5. Swann told detectives he did not intend to shoot Hickman.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the motive for the shooting. Swann has been charged with first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and use of a handgun in commission of a felony. Swann will be held without bond at the Charles County Detention Center.