A Silver Spring man was convicted Friday of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a man in a recreational vehicle almost two years ago, the county prosecutor’s office announced.
A jury deliberated for two hours after a four-day trial for Lloyd Patrick Walters, 52.
Walters was charged with shooting Todd McDonough Pruitt, 63, on Sept. 6, 2017, in an apparent robbery attempt. Charging documents said Walters knew Pruitt had a large amount of cash on his property.
Walters showed up at a county police station at 8:16 a.m. on the day Pruitt was killed suffering from a gunshot wound in his abdomen, according to prosecutors. While he was being treated, Walters said, “That was me that shot the man in the trailer.”
Officers found Pruitt dead in a recreational vehicle at 14016 Old Columbia Pike, near Burtonsville, according to court records. A search of the RV uncovered a large sum of cash.
Detectives spoke with an associate of both men who said he was planning to introduce them to conduct a business transaction, according to charging documents. The source told police he informed Walters that Pruitt had recently inherited a large sum of money, told him where Pruitt lived on the property, and that he was known to have a gun.
Cellphone records showed Walters’ phone was at or near the crime scene. No handguns were recovered although ballistics evidence showed two separate firearms were used in an apparent gunfight.
Defense attorneys for Walters could not be reached late Friday.
