County Murder Suspect Nabbed

SNOW HILL – One day after county and state law enforcement agencies triggered a massive manhunt for him, a Pocomoke man wanted on first-degree murder charges was apprehended outside a Wal-Mart.

Last Thursday, the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Skylor Dupree Harmon, 21, had been formally charged with first-degree murder and other related charges in the shooting death of Reginald Handy in Pocomoke last May 26. While forensic evidence identified Harmon as the alleged shooter, the suspect remained at large and was considered “armed and extremely dangerous.”

Last Thursday, allied state and local law enforcement agencies began a massive search for Harmon, who was believed to be traveling between the south end of Worcester County and Somerset County. A little more than 24 hours later, at approximately 6 p.m. last Friday, the state of Maryland Apprehension Team located Harmon outside the Wal-Mart store in Pocomoke and took him into custody without further incident.

Harmon has been formally charged with nine total counts, including first-degree murder, in the shooting death of Reginald Handy in Pocomoke last May. During a bail review hearing in District Court on Monday, Harmon was ordered held without bond and remains behind bars.

Handy died as a result of a single gunshot wound in Pocomoke on May 26 and his death was ruled a homicide. According to witness reports, an unknown man approached the Laurel Street area and exchanged words with Handy. The verbal altercation turned deadly when the still unknown suspect fired shots at Handy, striking him in the back, while firing additional shots at another man, identified as Torrance Davis, who was not injured.

Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) detectives arrived on the scene and started to piece together evidence and witness testimony. Initially, another man, Alexander Crippen, 36, of Fort Washington, Md., was identified as the suspect in the shooting death of Handy and the attempted murder of Davis.

In November, however, the forensic evidence excluded Crippen as the suspect in the shooting death of Handy and the first-degree murder charges against him were dropped. However, Crippen was convicted last month of attempted first-degree murder for the attempt on Davis and awaits his fate pending a pre-sentence investigation.

With Crippen being cleared of first-degree murder charges in the shooting of Handy, investigators focused their attention on Harmon, who was formally charged last week.