Maryland prosecutors level hate crime charges against suspect in Annapolis home shooting 

Maryland prosecutors filed hate crime charges Friday against the suspect in an Annapolis home shooting last month that left three dead and three injured.

According to online court records, Charles Robert Smith, 43, faces 42 charges — including three hate crime charges — in connection to the deaths of Nicholas Mireles, Mario Antonio Mireles Ruiz and Christian Marlon Segovia. All three of the victims who died were Latino, police said at the time.

According to state law, a hate crime is a crime that is “motivated either in whole or substantial part by another person’s or group’s race, color, national origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, homelessness, or disability.” A hate crime charge could add years to a sentence if the crime was found to be motivated by hate towards someone in a constitutionally protected class.

Smith was not initially charged with hate crimes after the shooting last month. State prosecutors initially charged him with three counts each of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, as well as the use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.

Police said they responded to a call for help on the evening of June 11 after a “parking dispute” appeared to precede the shooting. Court documents stated that Mireles Ruiz went to Smith’s house to discuss a parking issue after Smith’s mother had called a local parking enforcement employee to complain that a vehicle was blocking their driveway.

After an argument broke out between Mireles Ruiz and Smith’s mother, Smith allegedly came home and confronted Mireles Ruiz. The argument turned physical, and Smith allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Mireles Ruiz and Segovia.

After people at a nearby block party responded to the gunfire, Smith went inside his house and allegedly began shooting with a long gun through the window of his house. He allegedly shot and killed Nicholas Mireles, the father of Mario Mireles Ruiz, and injured three others.

Smith surrendered to authorities that evening without incident, police said. Police also had recovered a semi-automatic handgun and a long gun at the scene.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.