9/3/2021: On Friday, August 27, 2021, at approximately 11:55 p.m., police and emergency medical personnel responded to the area of Suburban Drive and Pleasant Drive in Lexington Park, for the reported assault with a machete.
The 911 caller reported a man armed with a machete attacked multiple people, an active disturbance was heard in the background of the call and dispatchers advised their was a language barrier.
Medical personnel were requested to the scene due to the caller stating four victims suffered injuries from the assault.
Police arrived on the scene and made contact with two victims (brothers) who advised they were sitting in a pickup truck that was parked in a residences driveway on Leesa Court listening to music, when the suspect and the suspects brother approached the vehicle and knocked on the window. The victim opened the door and got out of the truck to see what the two men wanted, when for unknown reasons the two suspects became angry and a physical altercation occurred in the front yard.
The victim and his brother stated they ran into their residence to escape the assault, and a short time later, they realized they left the vehicle running with the keys in the ignition. The two victims exited the residence to retrieve the vehicles keys and the two suspects came back to the residence and started another physical altercation, one suspect grabbed a machete from a Toyota Corolla sedan and began swinging it at the victims, the suspect did not not strike anyone, but he continued to swing it at the victims. The suspect struck the rear drivers side door window with the weapon, shattering the window.
When the victim yelled for someone to call 911, the two suspects jumped into the Toyota sedan and fled the area. Approximately 5 minutes later, they returned in the same vehicle and parked in front of a residence at the end of Leesa Court, where officers arrived on the scene and found both suspects still inside of the vehicle.
Police identified the driver as Cesar Augusto Gonzalez-Lopez, police vocalized numerous commands for the driver to exit the vehicle, he finally complied and stood outside of the open driver side door of the vehicle while on his phone. One victim down the street then pointed at Gonzales-Lopez and stated to officers that was the man wielding the machete.
At one point during the incident, the suspect reached back into the vehicle and was told by Officers if he attempted to reach into the vehicle again, he will be bit by the K9, to which Lopez stated he “understood a little bit”.
After approximately 20 minutes on the scene, Lopez claimed he did not speak English and refused to listen to police commands while remaining on a phone call.
A Deputy fluent in Spanish responded to the scene and talked to the victims to get a better understanding of what occurred, the Deputy then approached the suspect and attempted to de-escalate the situation, officers stated he was under arrest multiple times, and ordered him to walk to the rear of the vehicle. He denied to cooperate and refused all commands for approximately five more minutes before Deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office along with a K9 partner moved in to detain Gonzales-Lopez.
While placing the first suspect into custody, the passenger of the vehicle got out of the vehicle and attempted to approach the rear of the vehicle. Troopers from the Maryland State Police Barrack held him at gunpoint until a St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Deputy placed him into custody without further incident.
Emergency medical personnel from Valley Lee and Lexington Park responded to the scene and returned to services after approximately 15 minutes. No victims or patients were transported by EMS.
The victims truck keys were found just outside of the suspects vehicle under the drivers door, along with a large leather sheath carrying a large knife/machete was observed in plain site under the vehicles passenger seat. The passenger of the vehicle stated to officers their was a machete in the vehicle, however, he did not know where it was located.
The driver of the sedan / suspect involved in the assault was identified as Cesar Augusto Gonzales-Lopez, 31, of Great Mills, he was held on a no bond status for 48 hours before being released on his own recognizance on August 30, 2021. He has been charged with the following.
- ASSAULT FIRST DEGREE
- THEFT: $100 TO UNDER $1,500
- MAL DEST PROP/VALU < $1,000
St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office release: On August 28, 2021, Dep. Allebach responded to the 46100 block of Leesa Court in Lexington Park, for the reported assault. Investigation determined Cesar Augusto Gonzalez-Lopez, 31, of Great Mills, began swinging a machete at two victims, trying to make contact with the victims.
During the incident, Gonzalez-Lopez also took the keys to the victim’s vehicle. The victims were not struck by the machete, however Gonzalez-Lopez shattered the victim’s vehicle’s window with the machete.
Gonzalez-Lopez was located, arrested and charged with First Degree Assault, Malicious Destruction of Property and Theft. (No Photograph Available)
