Man Charged With Shooting At Gaithersburg Church: Police

GAITHERSBURG, MD — A Gaithersburg man was arrested Tuesday in connection to November's shootings at the New Life Seventh Day Adventist Church, police announced. Peter Kevin Banfield, 35, of the 1100 block of Southern Night Lane was charged with reckless endangerment and destruction of property.

A parishioner called police Nov. 15 after he attended a service at the church and noticed a bullet hole in a window frame. Officers responded to the church at 7401 Muncaster Mill Rd. and recovered a bullet fragment from the frame, police said.

Police were called to the church again at about 11:15 p.m. Nov. 16 for the report of sounds of multiple gunshots. The church sustained damage from apparent gunfire and officers recovered bullet fragments at the scene, police said. Officers also recovered multiple shell casings on Muncaster Mill Road near the church.

No one was hurt in these incidents, police said.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for Banfield’s residence on Nov. 19 and recovered a handgun and ammunition in his bedroom, police said.

A forensics analysis was conducted on the shell casings recovered from the scene and the gun and ammunition recovered during the search warrant. The report indicated that the gun recovered in Banfield's bedroom was the same one used at the church, police said.

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Banfield was charged with reckless endangerment, destruction of religious property, destruction of property over $1,000 and discharging a firearm in an urban area. He was arrested in Rockville on the strength of the arrest warrant Tuesday. Bond information is not yet available, police said.

Photo: Montgomery County Police Department