Maryland Police announced Wednesday the arrest of a suspect in the killing of a father defending his son from retaliation after a schoolyard fight in May.
“The facts of this case were presented to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review,” a statement from the Anne Arundel County Police Department. “After consultation with the State’s Attorney, homicide detectives applied for charges for Trevor Garrett Taylor in the death of Mr. Christopher Wright.”
“Mr. Taylor was served on [a] warrant and is currently at Central Holding & Processing in Annapolis,” police added.
The suspect faces charges of manslaughter, three counts of second-degree assault, affray and disorderly conduct after his attack leading to the death of Mr. Wright, the police statement said.
Mr. Wright, 43, died on May 20, one day after sustaining head injuries when a handful of people showed up at his house, demanding to see his fiancée’s 14-year-old son in what appeared to be a retaliation for a fight that happened earlier in the day at Brooklyn Park Middle School.
Tracy Karopchinsky, Mr. Wright’s fiancée, told reporters that her partner had refused to let the angry visitors speak with the teen, who was inside at the time of the encounter.
“Chris came out to tell them, like, he’s not coming out here to fight, and they threatened at one point to come in and get him, and then they said, ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight,’’ Ms. Karopchinsky said.
According to Ms. Karopchinsky, the group consisted of two adults and three teens.
The incident, which happened when the couple’s three children were in the house, was caught on security cameras of the victim’s house and a neighbor’s.
“The first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming, ‘Daddy, daddy, daddy,’ and running out of the house into the street to go help his dad,” Ms. Karopchinsky said. “And, I couldn’t watch anymore after that. I just couldn’t.”
When police arrived at the scene, Mr. Wright was already receiving treatment from county fire department personnel. He was then rushed to a local trauma center, where he died a day later.
According to a fundraiser page set up by Mr. Wright’s sister-in-law, the father was “beaten in the head and his body was slammed head-first on the asphalt causing a severe traumatic brain injury.”
“He underwent right-hemisphere brain surgery at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, suffered a left-hemisphere stroke, and had bleeding on his brain stem,” the page continued. “These men took the life of an amazing father and life partner.”
