A 25-year-old man was shot in the face Monday evening outside of a Chinese restaurant on Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring, according to Montgomery County police radio transmissions.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no suspect was in custody, police said in a statement.
Just after 8:50 p.m. Monday, police officers responded to the 8600 block of Piney Branch Road for the report of a shooting, the statement said. According to radio transmissions, a 911 caller reported seeing someone shot. Later, a dispatcher advised responding officers that the victim was 25 years old, awake and breathing.
The shooting took place in a busy retail and business center at Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road and close to the Bestway Piney supermarket and the Flower Branch Apartments.
A preliminary police investigation found that a suspect shot the man and left the scene, according to the statement. Police noted the suspect and the victim knew each other.
After the shooting, the victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
According to radio transmissions, one responding officer said the man who was shot had initially been picked up by someone driving a minivan who was taking him to the hospital.
Later, another officer advised he found the victim near Piney Branch Road and University Boulevard and requested an ambulance. The officer said the victim had a gunshot wound that “looks like it went through his nose” but was alert and conscious, according to the transmissions.
Officers requested a Spanish translator to speak to the man about the incident, according to transmissions. The man was not able to say in what direction the suspect had fled, but he did provide the officers with the suspect’s name and the area where he lived. He also told the officers he had been shot outside of a Chinese restaurant but did not name the restaurant.
