Both husband and Baltimore County police shot woman in deadly Parkville encounter

Baltimore County Police officers who exchanged deadly gunfire with a Parkville man on Nov. 24 also shot his wife after she called out for help, according to the Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

An examination of ballistics evidence revealed that a bullet fired by police amid a shootout with Arnel Redfern, 52, also struck his wife Maxine Redfern, 48, the division said Tuesday.

Her husband also shot Maxine Redfern “multiple times,” the ballistics evidence showed.

Police arrived at the couple’s Maple Avenue home at about 11:30 p.m. in response to call for a domestic disturbance. Body-camera videos showed that as police knocked on the door, a woman called out “help me!” from inside before the front door opened and gunfire erupted. Officers fired back toward the house while ducking behind cars in the driveway, according to the videos.

Arnel Redfern died at the scene and officers found Maxine Redfern dead inside the house.

“Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Maxine Redfern, who was shot multiple times by her husband Arnel Redfern,” police spokesperson Joy Stewart said in a statement Tuesday.

Stewart said officers responded to a neighbor’s call, heard Maxine Redfern “screaming for help, and were met by gunfire as one officer knocked on the door.”

“Our officers’ actions that night were heroic,” she said.

Stewart added that the department would continue to cooperate with the open investigation by the attorney general’s office.

FOP Lodge 4 President David Rose also said his members’ thoughts are with the family of Maxine Redfern.

“A husband shot his wife several times in front of a police officer then fired on the police and they, in defending themselves, fired back at him,” Rose said.

Three officers — Christopher Schanberger, Andrew Burns and Andrew G. Langley — fired their weapons in the deadly encounter.

The attorney general’s office previously identified the officers by their last names and years of service according to the county officers’ union agreement, which bars the department from releasing officers’ full names after police shootings or in-custody deaths.

Maxine Redfern sought protection from the courts as she divorced Arnel Redfern, saying her husband had abused her psychologically and kept her from leaving the house. Although she was granted a temporary protective order and a final protective order, the final order did not mandate her husband to stay away from her or leave the house.

Arnel Redfern, who was convicted of charges in the 1990s that would prohibit him from owning a gun under state law, signed documents asserting that he owned no firearms. It’s not clear how he obtained the handgun police recovered in November.

The Independent Investigations Division is still investigating the fatal shooting along with three 2024 Baltimore County incidents: a fatal police shooting in January at a Pikesville gas station, the death of a man in police custody days later and the April death of a Baltimore Beltway driver following a police pursuit.