Laurel police seek teen charged as adult in park shooting spree
Police say a 16-year-old is charged as an adult after two shootings in Laurel, including one in Discovery Community Park that left a boy wounded in the arm.
Laurel police are searching for 16-year-old Bryan Jadier Bonilla-Barrios after two shooting incidents on Friday, May 15, turned a fight among juveniles into a case carrying adult criminal charges. Officers said Bonilla-Barrios is charged as an adult with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, use of a firearm during a violent crime, handgun on a person and reckless endangerment.
The first shooting broke out just after 2:30 p.m. in Discovery Community Park on Harrison Drive, a 1.5-acre city park with play areas, swings, large slides and seating areas. Police said the trouble started after an altercation between two groups of juveniles. During that confrontation, officers found a boy who had been shot in the arm and took him to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Police then heard additional gunfire shortly afterward from the area of Eighth Street. Investigators did not locate another victim there, and later asked the public for help finding Bonilla-Barrios, warning residents not to approach him and to consider him armed and dangerous. Laurel police said anyone with information should call 301-498-0092.
The case adds another public-safety concern for Laurel after a separate violent episode at the Centre at Laurel shopping center on May 5 left three people shot and two people stabbed. Police later said the stabbing was domestic-related and unrelated to the shooting, and Mayor Keith R. Sydnor said city officials were reviewing policies while keeping resident and visitor safety as the top priority.
The new park shooting is likely to sharpen questions about how quickly youth conflicts can escalate in public places that are built for families, not firearms. Discovery Community Park sits within Laurel’s network of neighborhood parks, where city officials have promoted play spaces and seating areas as part of the city’s family-oriented amenities. Instead, police say the park became the starting point for an armed confrontation that spilled onto nearby streets and left a teenager facing adult charges.
Bonilla-Barrios remained at large as police continued their search, and investigators urged anyone who sees him or knows where he is to contact Laurel police immediately. The case now stands as one of the city’s clearest reminders that juvenile disputes can bring adult-level consequences when a gun is involved.
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