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Summary: In a home invasion on November 18, 2025, in Clear Spring, Maryland, three residents, two white women and one black male, were fatally shot during a robbery targeting drugs and valuables before their house was deliberately burned. Victims included homeowners Brittany Nicole Ray, 31, and Harold Tyrese Nathaniel Flichman, 36, plus roommate Brianna Mae Weishaar, 25. Authorities charged Darnell Hawkins Jr., 47; Tony Smith, 43; Maurice Mouzon, 46; and Kierra White, 35, with murder, arson, and related crimes. More arrests are expected amid ongoing probes.
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CLEAR SPRING, Md. (DailyKenn.com) — Authorities in western Maryland have charged four suspects in the brazen early-morning home invasion that left three residents dead from gunshot wounds before their house was torched in an apparent cover-up attempt, state police announced last week.
The attack occurred on Nov. 18 at a single-story home in the 13000 block of National Pike, a quiet stretch of rural road in this Washington County community of about 350 people. According to investigators, the assailants — armed and intent on stealing drugs, cash and firearms — arrived around 5 a.m. in a rented U-Haul truck parked nearby to avoid detection.
Surveillance footage from a Ring doorbell camera captured the ordeal: One of the female victims, dragged by her hair through the front door by lead suspect Darnell Hawkins, clutched the device in a desperate bid for evidence. The video shows Hawkins, a 47-year-old Baltimore man recently paroled after serving time for a prior homicide, barking orders to "clean everything — the whole house." An unidentified associate later told detectives of the group's premeditated robbery scheme, sources close to the probe said.
Inside, the violence escalated quickly. Brittany Nicole Ray, 31, and Harold Tyrese Nathaniel Flichman, 36, were herded to the basement, forced to face a corner wall and shot multiple times; four spent shell casings littered the floor nearby. Brianna Mae Weishaar, 25, was gunned down on the ground floor amid the struggle. Preliminary autopsy results from the state's chief medical examiner confirmed all three succumbed to gunshot trauma, not the blaze that followed. Fire marshals detected accelerant residue in a telltale pour pattern on the concrete foundation, with blazes ignited in two spots — the front porch and a bedroom — to destroy evidence.
Responders from the Washington County Sheriff's Office and state fire units arrived shortly after the 911 call, initially treating it as a tragic structure fire. But K-9 units alerted to ignitable liquids, and the victims' injuries didn't match smoke inhalation or burns, prompting Maryland State Police homicide detectives to take over. The case, they said, bore hallmarks of a targeted hit tied to narcotics trafficking, not random violence.
Hawkins and Tony Smith, 43, of Hagerstown, face three counts each of first-degree murder, first-degree arson and related weapons charges; both are detained without bond. Maurice Mouzon, 46, of Baltimore, is accused of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, narcotics distribution and illegal handgun possession. Kierra White, 35, of Glen Burnie, allegedly ferried the bloodied Hawkins and Mouzon from the scene in her car hours later and is charged as an accessory after the fact. Prosecutors expect additional indictments as the multi-agency probe, aided by the FBI, continues.
The slayings have rattled Clear Spring, a tight-knit enclave along the C&O Canal where neighbors know one another by name. "Our hearts break for these families," Maryland Fire Marshal Jason Buckman said in a statement, extending condolences to "the Clear Spring community and all those affected." One victim's mother, speaking anonymously to protect her surviving grandson, described her daughter as a driven honor-roll graduate with degrees in business and criminology who owned the home and dreamed big. "She was so smart, with such a bright future ahead," the grieving parent said through tears. "Now a little boy grows up without his mom because of this senseless greed."
Local leaders called for vigilance against drug-fueled crime bleeding into rural areas, while online forums buzzed with calls to end the cycle of violence. "Regardless of feuds or affiliations, people have to stop killing each other," one resident posted on social media. As arraignments loom, detectives urge tips at the Hagerstown barracks: 301-766-3800.
Images of the four defendants were not available, but are described as black in public records. Victims Ray and Weishaar were white. Flichman was black.
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