Three Arrested for Death of 5-Year-Old Linkwood Girl; Father Arrested for Shooting of Hurlock Teen
LINKWOOD, Md. – Four individuals have been charged in connection with the death of five-year-old Na’Ryah Adams, including her father, who was also critically injured in the shooting that claimed her life.
WMDT previously reported on a shooting in Linkwood that claimed the life of a five-year-old on Aug. 11. Maryland State Police responded to the residence in the 3900 block of Ocean Gateway just after 2:15 a.m., locating two individuals with gunshot wounds; Na’Ryah and her father, 30-year-old Ryan Adams. While Na’Ryah was pronounced deceased on the scene, Adams was flown to a local trauma center for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds.
WMDT has obtained court records that shed new light on the details of this case, including the arrest of Adams and three other individuals, as well as the shooting’s connection to another act of violence in Dorchester County the night prior.
Related Shooting in Hurlock
Court documents obtained by WMDT revealed that another shooting occurred in Dorchester County the night before Na’Ryah’s death.
At 10:53 p.m. on Aug. 10, a 14-year-old male victim was injured on Gold Rush Lane in Hurlock after being shot in the back. He was transported to Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital in serious condition.
A witness of the shooting told police that he saw a light-skinned Black man, wearing dark clothing, enter the front yard of 110 Gold Rush Lane before firing a gun at a group of juveniles next door. The shooter then ran toward Ruby Circle before fleeing in the passenger seat of a black SUV.
Maryland State Police Homicide Unit assumed the investigation, speaking with the 14-year-old at Johns Hopkins. The juvenile victim identified his shooter as a 15-year-old of Linkwood. Another witness of the incident told police the shooting was part of a longstanding feud between the shooter’s family and other juveniles in the area. He said the alleged shooter contacted his uncle, identified as Ryan Adams, after becoming angry and fearful when the rival teens said they were carrying a firearm.
Following this admission, investigators developed further evidence connecting the shootings in Hurlock and Linkwood as a matter of retaliation.
Ryan Adams
Information gleaned during the investigation indicated that the 15-year-old male involved in the shooting on Gold Rush Lane was Adams’ nephew. After the 15-year-old called Adams on Aug. 10, court documents indicate Adams went to the Hurlock residence and also opened fire on the group of juveniles at 108 Gold Rush Lane.
Adams would be transported to shock trauma just hours later after being shot in retaliation. While troopers responded to the shooting at his residence in Linkwood, Adams’s grandmother confirmed to police that he had gone to Hurlock to pick up his 15-year-old nephew the night prior in a black Ford Explorer parked on the property.
MSP say the 15-year-old has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and other related charges. He is currently being held at the Lower Eastern Shore Children’s Center.
Adams is charged with attempted first and second degree murder, first and second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and firearm use during the commission of a violent felony. Authorities say Adams remains at the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Anthony Harris, Jr.
Anthony Harris, Jr.
In the days following, investigators learned from a confidential source that the uncles of the 14-year-old victim shot in Hurlock were responsible for the shooting in Linkwood, including 26-year-old Anthony Harris, Jr. of Hurlock. Authorities reviewed video surveillance from the nearby Linkwood Market, observing a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee traveling in the area at 2:07 a.m. on Aug. 11, before turning its headlights off and pulling onto the shoulder in front of the Linkwood home. Two minutes later, the vehicle is seen turning its lights back on and pulling away from the residence. This surveillance footage was corroborated by dashcam footage of a Sysco truck that was in the area at the time.
Further, Hurlock Police Officer Brandon Lee observed and spoke with Harris in the same dark-colored Jeep Cherokee just 40 minutes after the shooting occurred while he was traveling on Gold Rush Lane, near Douglas Street. Officer Lee and Harris were familiar with one another, and Officer Lee recognized the house Harris was returning to as his grandmother’s residence. Video surveillance from a nearby house on Gold Rush Lane shows Harris leaving the home on Douglas Street in the same vehicle around 2:42 a.m. Investigators mapped his cellphone and found him arriving in Salisbury less than an hour after.
The registration of the Jeep Cherokee was found to belong to 26-year-old Meijah Hill, the girlfriend to and mother of Harris’s child. Using law enforcement data bases, investigators determined that Hill’s Cherokee was serviced at a Valvoline in Seaford by Harris, just hours before the Linkwood homicide.
On Aug. 25, Harris was arrested and charged with first and second degree murder, attempted first and second degree murder, two counts each of first and second degree assault, firearm use during the commission of a violent felony, and altering physical evidence. He is currently being held without bond.
Wendell Allen Wongus
Wendell Wongus III
Police have arrested a second man in connection with the shooting of Ryan Adams and his daughter, Na’Ryah.
On Aug. 27, officers arrested 23-year-old Wendell Allen Wongus on the same charges as Harris. He is also being held without bond.
Details about Wongus’s involvement are limited at this time, but the charges place him inside the Linkwood residence at the time of the shooting. According to court documents obtained by WMDT, he has previously been convicted of fraud, disorderly conduct, possession of a firearm as a minor, carrying a loaded handgun, and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
Lindsay Ewing
Lindsay Ewing
On Aug. 14, prior to Harris’s arrest, a search and seizure warrant was executed at his residence in Hurlock. Analysis of his cell-phone messages revealed Harris discussing the incidents and mentioning possession of a firearm that matched the caliber of spent casings found at the crime scene.
However, further analysis of the texts revealed a lengthy conversation with 43-year-old Lindsay Ewing of Cambridge, a criminal defense attorney who previously worked for the Dorchester County Office of the States Attorney. In the correspondence, Ewing and Harris discuss the shootings in both Hurlock and Linkwood, including Harris’s risk of being caught and how the two should go about tampering and destroying evidence. Many of their texts were deleted prior to the search of electronic devices, but authorities were able to recover them using forensic software.
Investigators believe Ewing used sources not available to the general public while employed at the office of a defense attorney to assist Harris in evading detection by law enforcement for the homicide. Further, additional analysis of stored messages revealed an intimate affair ongoing between Ewing and Harris.
On Aug. 25, Ewing was also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, altering physical evidence in a criminal proceeding, and conspiracy to alter physical evidence in a criminal proceeding. She is also being held without bond.
Due to Ewing’s previous employment with the Dorchester County State’s Attorney (SA), Wicomico County SA Jamie L. Dykes says her office will be prosecuting the case.
“Violent crime in Dorchester County affects the entire Lower Eastern Shore and, most importantly, can tragically alter the lives of victims, families, and communities for generations,” said SA Dykes. “My Office will do everything lawfully and ethically within our authority to ensure that these cases are handled fairly, thoroughly, and with the seriousness they deserve.”
Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the MSP Homicide Unit tip line at 202-953-1903. A reward of up to $25,000 is being offered for information that may lead to additional arrests in this investigation. Callers may remain anonymous.
WMDT will continue to update this story as details are made available.
