North Laurel Man Charged With Attempted Murder After Fight Over Cell Phone

A North Laurel man is facing attempted murder charges after a dispute over a cell phone rapidly escalated Friday morning, according to Howard County police.

Officers responded to the parking lot outside PW's Sports Bar & Grill (9855 Washington Blvd N.) around 9 a.m. for a report of fight in progress, police said. 

When they arrived, they found a 64-year-old man unconscious after being struck by a car. The victim was transported to Shock Trauma in Baltimore and was listed in stable condition Friday afternoon.

A description of the vehicle, a Honda Accord, was distributed to neighboring law enforcement. The Laurel Police Department reportedly located the vehicle and pulled it over in a parking near at old Laurel Mall site. The driver—Travon Millar, 21, of the 9700 block of Covered Wagon Drive—was taken into custody and turned over to the HCPD.

Police said the victim had come to PW's Friday morning to check if anyone had found his lost cell phone from the night before. A bartender told the victim no one had, but they called the number and reached Millar, who reportedly said he would return the phone for money. The two arranged to meet in the PW's parking lot.

When Millar arrived, he got into a dispute with the cell phone owner and threw him to the ground, police said. A witness allegedly grabbed Millar "to prevent him from further assaulting the victim."

Millar then got back into his car with the phone, but the victim and witness stood in front of the vehicle to block it. Millar accelerated, police said, running over the victim with the left driver's side tire before speeding out of the parking lot and heading south on Washington Blvd.

Millar was later charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, destruction of property, failing to stay at the scene of a motor vehicle accident with injury, and several traffic offenses, according to police.