Walk-By Stabber Strikes Deal

SNOW HILL – An Elkton man, arrested last June after resort police were able to track him to his home town following an unprovoked knife attack on a downtown Ocean City street, was found guilty last week in Worcester County Circuit Court on a second-degree assault charge and was sentenced to 10 years in jail, much of which was then suspended in favor of an extended probation and a fine.

During the early morning hours of June 16, Ocean City police responded to the area of 8th Street and St. Louis Ave. for a reported stabbing incident. Officers arrived and met with the victim, a 21-year-old Irish citizen living in Ocean City for the summer. The victim told police he was walking on St. Louis Ave. between 7th and 8th streets when he walked between two unidentified men.

In an unprovoked attack, one of the suspects “punched” the victim in the abdomen as he passed by. The victim ran from the assault and only later realized he had not been punched in the stomach as he first thought, but rather had been stabbed in the abdomen.

Meanwhile, OCPD detectives conducted an investigation and were able to develop a suspect based on information provided by a field patrol contact. Detectives used that information to obtain additional information about the suspect, now identified as Seth Tyler Gills, 17, of Elkton, Md., including his activities before the stabbing incident and his possible whereabouts.

Detectives then obtained an arrest warrant for Gills, charging him as an adult for first-degree assault. Gills was tracked to his hometown in Elkton and was arrested nearly a week later on June 24. He was extradited and returned to Worcester County, where he was charged with first- and second-degree assault, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and reckless endangerment.

Last week in Circuit Court, Gills entered an Alford plea to second-degree assault and was found guilty. In an Alford plea, a suspect does not plead guilty, but acknowledges the state has sufficient evidence to prosecute the case.