WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. – Authorities said a man accused of shooting and killing a Wicomico County sheriff’s deputy Sunday during a chase should have been jailed at the time of the shooting, following an armed robbery conviction years earlier.
Officials identified 20-year-old Austin Jacob Allen Davidson, of Delmar, Maryland, as the man charged with murder and assault in the death of Deputy First Class Glenn Hilliard, 41. On Monday, Wicomico Sheriff Mike Lewis said Davidson had been convicted in 2019 for an armed robbery in Baltimore, for which he was sentenced to probation before judgment with a three-year suspended jail sentence.
“Had he still been incarcerated where he belonged, our deputy would still be with us here today,” Lewis said. “We not only have a grieving wife (and) three beautiful, grieving children, but we have a law enforcement family that has been ripped apart.”
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The sheriff said that in 2019, Davidson was convicted of robbing a McDonald’s of $1,136 while armed with a handgun.
“Someone like this should not have been out on the streets,” Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday, adding that “Glenn Hilliard is never going to be forgotten for the hero that he is.”
Hilliard served 18 years in law enforcement, including a decade with the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.
“His wife said she wanted to make sure that we pass on to people that Glenn Hilliard died doing what he loved,” Hogan said, calling the shooting “a horrendous crime. A tragedy.”
Authorities said that Hilliard spotted Davidson after getting a tip that the man, who was wanted on four felony arrest warrants, had been spotted at an apartment complex in Pittsfield. When Davidson saw the sheriff’s deputy, he ran and Hilliard gave chase. As Davidson headed for a nearby wood line, he opened fire on Hilliard, striking the deputy at least once, Lewis said.
In a statement posted early Monday on social media, deputies remembered Lewis as “an incredible human being.” He would have turned 42 on June 22.
“Deputy Glenn Hilliard was a son, a husband and a father to three beautiful children, a brother to those he worked with, and an exemplary public servant to the citizens of Wicomico County and to the State of Maryland,” deputies said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Glenn’s family during this difficult time.”
Hilliard is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
