A heinous crime has Towson residents on edge after police say three people were raped at gunpoint in the alley just steps from the Towson Circle Thursday.
“It shook our community to the core,” Nancy Hafford said. “I’ve got to admit we were pretty horrified. We’re very sad that something like this could happen in Towson.”
According to charging documents, it was last Thursday around 11:00 at night when police say three victims were leaving a restaurant along Pennsylvania Avenue and heading to Banditos on Allegheny Avenue when they noticed the suspect, 28-year-old Quantze Davis walking toward them dressed in all black.
Police say Davis pulled out a gun and demanded cash before ordering them into the alley behind several businesses on W. Joppa Road just steps from the Towson Circle.
The victims told police he ordered them onto their knees and threatened to kill them before he raped all three of them at gunpoint and took off.
Police determined through surveillance video Davis had entered a nearby business and made a purchase 20 minutes prior to the incident using ApplePay. From there, police were able to identify and arrest him.
Davis, who has a Baltimore City address, is charged with first-degree rape, assault, illegal possession of a handgun, armed robbery, among other charges.
“We’re hoping that incident was isolated, that we don’t have anything like that again,” Nancy Hafford said. “We know the police are all over on the streets, and they’re going to be patrolling more than they have in the past.”
This isn’t the first time Davis has been in trouble with the law.
Police say he was prohibited from even being able to possess a firearm after he was arrested in 2021 in Anne Arundel county for illegal possession of a gun and drugs.
The following year he was found guilty and sentenced to three years with all but 10 days suspended.
Nancy Hafford with the Towson Chamber of Commerce says he will be held accountable in Baltimore County.
“If you come here and you cause a crime that’s heinous, we can tell you you’re going to be caught, you’re going to be arrested, and you’re not going to get out because that’s how we handle it here,” she said.
This is just one of several incidents that have rocked the community in recent months.
In January, police arrested one adult and several juveniles after a disturbance near the Towson Circle.
Police had to bring in both K9 and aviation units to regain control.
Three teenagers were also arrested and charged for a carjacking inside the Towson Town Center parking garage last year.
Hafford says the community is growing but is still safe to visit.
“Towson has really grown over the last several years. We have thousands and thousands more people living here and coming here and whenever you have more people living in an area there tends to be a little bit more crime,” she said.
Davis is currently being held without bond.