Bowie officer guilty of attempted murder in highway shooting of unarmed man

A Prince George’s County judge found Bowie Police Sgt. Robert Warrington guilty of attempted second-degree murder after he shot at Nathaniel Richardson on a highway shoulder in Bowie, a case that put police judgment, supervision and transparency under a hard public spotlight.

Krystal Alvez convicted Warrington after a bench trial of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. The shooting happened on the morning of Sept. 12, 2024, on Collington Road, also known as MD 197, near eastbound U.S. 50, the John Hanson Highway, when Warrington stopped to help what he believed was a stranded driver.

Court evidence showed the man was not armed. Investigators determined Richardson held only a cellphone, and Richardson said he had been reaching for a hat that blew away in the wind. Alvez rejected Warrington’s claim that the gun discharged unintentionally and found that his use of force was not reasonable, necessary, proportional or objectively reasonable.

The bullet struck a passing vehicle, though no one was physically injured. The fact that the shot endangered another driver as well as Richardson sharpened the stakes of the case for Bowie residents who rely on officers to defuse roadside encounters, not escalate them.

Warrington, a 37-year-old sergeant and 12-year veteran of the City of Bowie Police Department, had been on patrol when he pulled over to assist the driver. The incident was captured on both in-car and body-worn camera video, footage that later became central to the case and to the city’s handling of public disclosure.

The Bowie Police Department placed Warrington on paid administrative leave after the shooting. Later reporting said he was suspended without pay. The department initially said it would release the video after the independent investigation was completed, then agreed to make the vehicle and body-camera footage public after consulting with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Prince George’s County police’s Special Investigation Response Team investigated the shooting, and the case was reviewed under Maryland’s police accountability framework, including the statewide disciplinary matrix created by the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021. That system is supposed to create more uniform consequences when officers are found to have violated policy or law.

After the verdict, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara H. Jackson said prosecutors disclosed additional information to the defense after the ruling and filed that disclosure in court so the defense could respond. Warrington was released on his own recognizance and remains free pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2026.

Richardson’s mother, Nicole, told WTOP that two lives were changed. Her son, she said, has struggled to move forward and may never view law enforcement the same way again, a reminder that the fallout from one roadside shooting in Bowie has spread far beyond the courtroom.