Story by Daniel Woods
MARTINSBURG, W.Va – On February 16, 2024 at 10:00 am, Deputy Webb of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department responded to Ray’s Guns on Tabler Station Road in Martinsburg for a reported breaking and entering.
Upon arrival, Webb found that two males had attempted to break into the gun shop earlier that morning at approximately 5:45 AM. After reviewing video of the incident, he observed that the two males pried the front door open, but fled after an audible alarm was activated.
Video showed that the males were driving a red Jeep Patriot with Maryland plates and after checking DMV files, Webb was told that the plate was stolen from Howard County, MD and should have been displayed on a 2013 Chevrolet.
At approximately 3:45 pm, Deputy Webb and other patrol units responded to a disturbance in progress call at Melville Drive in Inwood. After arriving on scene, he observed a red Jeep Patriot sitting in the driveway of the residence and saw that the vehicle was bearing the same Maryland registration as the vehicle at the attempted breaking and entering at Ray’s Guns.
Once contact was made with the occupants of the residence, Webb observed two males who matched the description of the two males who had attempted to break into Ray’s Guns and noticed that the men were still wearing the same clothes that they had been wearing in the video from shop
The males were identified as Dontraz Johnson and David Taylor, both age 23 from Baltimore, MD, who were then taken into custody for the attempted breaking and entering at Ray’s Guns. Webb then checked the Vehicle Identification Number on the Jeep that the two men had been driving and was notified by dispatch the Jeep was reported as having been stolen from Howard County, MD.
A search warrant was later executed at the residence, where additional evidence was recovered that places Johnson and Taylor at the crime scene.