The life of Taylor Ann Pond, a 28-year-old White woman, ended in an act of shocking violence inside her own home in Charles Town, West Virginia. On the night of Saturday, August 24, 2019, Pond performed an act of kindness for a man standing outside her apartment building, giving him a sweatshirt. The man, Elliott DeJohn Lansdowne, claimed he was “triggered” by the gesture. He followed her back into the building, threatened her, and pulled out a handgun. Pond retreated to her apartment, but as she closed the door to escape, Lansdowne shot through it, striking her in the head.
At approximately 11:36 p.m., the Charles Town Police Department responded to a “shots fired” call at Pond’s apartment on the 100 block of North West Street. Inside, they found her deceased from a gunshot wound. The investigation quickly identified Lansdowne as the shooter, and police learned he had fled to his home in Jefferson, Maryland.
Early the next morning, the Frederick County
Sheriff’s Office located Lansdowne’s vehicle at his residence and began surveillance. Once a warrant was issued for first-degree murder, SWAT teams from Frederick and Washington counties moved in and took Lansdowne, then 28, into custody. A second person, 20-year-old Emma Marie Phillips of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, was also arrested at the scene and later charged with accessory after the fact.
In September 2020, Elliott DeJohn Lansdowne, then 29, was tried in Jefferson County Circuit Court. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The prosecuting attorney noted that Lansdowne had "cruelly shot Miss Pond after her act of kindness toward him." Citing the "callousness of this crime and the defendant’s extensive criminal history," the jury recommended against any opportunity for parole. Lansdowne was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder, with an additional sentence of up to 10 years for the firearm conviction.
