On Tuesday morning, two individuals suffering from gunshot wounds arrived at the Adventist HealthCare Germantown Emergency Center, as reported by the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) radio dispatches.
Emergency responders were initially sent to 19500 Crystal Rock Drive for a reported shooting at 11:20 a.m. However, they later learned that the victims had made their way to the emergency center located at 19731 Germantown Road.
The shooting reportedly took place at a housing complex on Crystal Rock Drive, situated just a couple of blocks from Seneca Valley High School at 19401 Crystal Rock Drive, where students were attending the first day of the 2025-2026 school year.
A staff member from the school informed Bethesda Today that the institution entered a “secure” status for approximately 30 minutes.
In a statement via email, MCPS spokesperson Liliana López explained that the “secure action” was initiated around 11:50 a.m. “due to police activity in the vicinity of” Seneca Valley High, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, and Lake Seneca and Germantown elementary schools. This secure action protocol means that there is a threat or hazard outside the school, restricting entry and exit while operations continue as usual,” López noted. The secure action has since been lifted, and normal activities have resumed at the schools.
According to radio communications, one of the patients at the Germantown emergency center was classified as a priority 1, while the other was designated as a priority 2.
A priority 1 patient is defined by Maryland medical protocols as someone who is “critically ill or injured and requires immediate attention; these are unstable patients with life-threatening conditions.” In contrast, a priority 2 patient is in “less serious condition but may still have potentially life-threatening injuries or illnesses, necessitating emergency medical care without immediate danger to life.”
Due to the recent encryption of police radio communications, details regarding Tuesday’s incident remain limited.
