Editor’s Note: After receiving numerous calls and emails from people that were in attendance at the birthday party at the Hollywood Volunteer Firehouse, TBN decided to interview the person who contracted with HVFD for the use of the hall to get her side of the story. What follows is a first hand interview with Larissa Somerville and others that feel TBN’s original story was at the least unbalanced and at the worst biased in the way the narrative was created about the events that unfolded on Jan. 4 in the early morning hours. What follows is based entirely on the information provided during that interview.

Larissa Somerville stated that her 40th  birthday party was ruined by a few uninvited  people and that it was not a 'go-go' like party  as reported initially by TBN.

Larissa Somerville is the owner of Essence Beauty and Barber in Lexington Park, and another business in Waldorf. Her 40th birthday was approaching and she decided to throw herself a party to celebrate the milestone event in her life. After 14 years in business, Somerville has become quite successful so she decided to go all out for her birthday. “It was never going to be a ‘go-go’ as stated on TheBAYNET,” said Somerville.

Somerville decided to hire out the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department main hall. She applied for the venue via an application online available to everyone on http://www.hvfd7.com/. During the process, Somerville stated that at no time was there any type of interview or screening process. “My impression was that they only cared about receiving the money for the hall,” said Somerville.

She paid the required $600 deposit to HVFD Vice President James Mattingly on Nov. 20. The contract signed stated that the event was to be a birthday party and that there would be various types of entertainment.

“The contract said that we needed to provide security and I contacted the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office to see about off-duty officers,” said Somerville. “They told me that I had to hire six officers or they couldn’t help me.”

As time progressed, Somerville purchased elaborate decorations. “My grandparents, family, in-laws and children were going to be at the party and I wanted everyone to have a great time,” said Somerville. She hired the 70s style band the Unifiques and a couple of different DJ entertainers to perform at her party.

She made up formal invitations and sent them out to about 200 people she knew who wanted to help her celebrate. The week before the event, Somerville called the firehouse to see if she could get into the venue

Somerville sent out about  200 invitations stating that  it was to be her 40th  birthday party.

On the day of the birthday party, Somerville said that everything went perfectly. “There were about 500 people who showed up, but even with the extra people, everything was going great until it was time to leave,” said Somerville.

She indicated that she asked her security people how they should handle the end of the party because she wanted everyone out of the parking lot by 2 a.m. Her security said to turn the lights up about 1 a.m. and that way they would begin clearing the hall about 1:30 a.m. Just as the lights came up again at 1:30 a.m., a domestic dispute erupted in the back of the hall and Somerville’s security cleared everyone out into the parking lot and called police.

Somerville stayed in the hall with her grandparents and children. “There was one bottle broken in the coat room upstairs,” said Somerville. She and her family stayed and cleaned up the facility and the parking lot after everyone had left. “We got out of there about 4:30 a.m.” She indicated that her contract included clean-up services, but that they stayed and cleaned up anyway.

“This was never a ‘go-go’ party, she reemphasized. Just a few people that were uninvited who decided to ruin everyone’s good time. That is all this was.”

Now for the second part of the story:

According to Somerville’s first cousin, Keysha Thomas, who was at the birthday party, the man that was assaulted about a mile south was not part of the event. “He was thrown out of the Holiday Apartments by her [Somerville’s] uncle when he was knocking on doors telling people that he was wanted by the police and needed some place to hide.”

Thomas went on to state that the man, wearing a ski mask, showed up at the birthday party and was escorted out by security. This was about the same time that the on-going domestic dispute between the couple erupted causing the commotion.

This was a great party until all this happened,” said Thomas. “We had business leaders, doctors and lawyers in attendance. Some friends came from Boston to be here for Larissa’s birthday. Just some people that ruined it for everyone,” emphasized Thomas.

“To have it characterized as a ‘go-go’ like party by TheBAYNET, was wrong,” said Somerville.

Early Sunday morning, Jan. 4 at approximately 1:30 a.m., police from St. Mary’s, Calvert, Maryland State and a canine unit were called handle a disturbance in the rental hall over the Hollywood firehouse.

Eyewitnesses report that multiple fights broke out upstairs during a very large, “go-go” like party.

When police arrived, they were advised there were several people inside the building throwing bottles at one another.  The deputies and troopers observed numerous individuals running from the building some of which were bleeding.  In addition, the officers observed several active fights in the parking lot.  Because of the numerous individuals involved, additional assistance was requested.

Wendell Lavon Blackiston, 21 of Leonardtown, charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and two counts of resisting arrest.

Ashley Nicole Young, 21 of Lexington Park, charged with disorderly conduct, failing to obey a lawful order of a police officer and resisting arrest.

Walter Jerome Ford, Jr.,  23 of Lexington Park, charged with theft less then $100 and second-degree assault.

The Hollywood Fire Hall is not unaccustomed to this kind of disturbance, having had a similar problem just last month. When asked, Bill Mattingly, President of the Hollywood Fire Department told TBN that the hall is rented to whoever wants it . "We do an extensive interview before the event. We were told that this was going be a birthday party," said Mattingly. "We thought we had a valid contract in good faith. The group that contracted for the space even had their own security." Mattingly indicated that there is no way knowing if the people renting the facility are lying until it is too late. "They will not be allowed to rent the space again," emphasized Mattingly. According to Sheriff Tim Cameron, he supports Hollywood VFD's efforts to pre-screen the rental applicants and will assist Hollywood to better screen renters in the future.

While the arrests were being made at the fire hall, the disturbance spilled out on to Route 235. According to eyewitnesses, four black males left the fire house and as they traveled southbound, the males noticed a white male walking on the shoulder of the road south of Leonardtown Road in the area of Mervil Dean Road in Hollywood. They pulled over their car and proceeded to beat the man for apparently no reason.

A few minutes later, a back woman and her daughter pulled over and tried to stop the fight. By this time the southbound lane was blocked to all traffic as other cars pulled over filing the roadway. TBN’s eyewitness reported that most of the stopped traffic were bystanders and watched at least two of the males kicking and beating the white male.

Police investigations at the scene revealed several individuals stopped the victim as he was walking down the roadway and kicked and punched him.  A vehicle was located just south of the assault.  The vehicle was occupied by four individuals, two of which had blood on their hands.

The two individuals were identified as Anthony Tyrone Adams, 24 of Great Mills, and Trenton Deonn Barnett, 19 of Lusby.  Adams and Barnett were escorted back to the scene and were identified as the individuals who assaulted the victim.  Adams and Barnett were arrested and charged with second-degree assault.

The beaten man was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital. At this writing, the extent of the man’s injuries are not known. After receiving a preliminary identification from the eyewitness, police also called the ambulance back to scene so the victim could confirm the identity of the suspects.

Reports are still coming in on the events and the investigation is continuing. More charges and arrests may be forthcoming.

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