Brothers Charged with Attempted Murder in Gaithersburg Shooting

Police have charged two brothers with attempted murder in a weekend dispute that ended in a shooting in which two people were wounded near the Giant supermarket at Flower Hill Shopping Center in Gaithersburg.

Abdelrahman “Abdel” Abdou, 18, and Abdullah M. Abdou, 20, were arrested Sunday in Germantown, according to Montgomery County Police Capt. Jim Daly, a police spokesman. Details were not available until Monday night.

The brothers were denied bond during a bail review hearing Monday and were  being held at Montgomery Count Detention Center.

Daly said said there was no evidence that the shooting was gang-related. Daly said the shooting stemmed from a dispute and that everyone involved knew each other.

At around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to shots fired near the Giant supermarket at Flower Hill Shopping Center, near Woodfield Road and Flower Hill Way.

One of the victims was found lying in a yard with a gunshot wound to the upper thigh; the other victim, wounded in the groin, was found in the back seat of a car in the parking lot of the Giant supermarket at the shopping center, according to charging documents Patch obtained from Montgomery County District Court.

The Abdou brothers were identified as suspects from surveillance footage from the Liberty Gas station across the street from the Flower Hill Shopping Center, court records state.

Prior to the shooting, the victims were with a group of people at the gas station when one of them got into an argument with Abdel Abdou, according to charging documents.

The victims left the gas station, but stopped nearby to talk to another group of people on the street, according to the court records.

Police claim that’s when a vehicle pulled up to them and Abdel Abdou begin firing shots; police said Abdullah Abdou was driving the vehicle, the court records state.

The brothers were charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder—a charge that can carry a life sentence—two counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of assault, a weapons offense and reckless endangerment. 

Court hearings have been scheduled for Nov. 15.