Caretaker in Ilchester is charged in shooting

Trespasser on grounds of former seminary is critically injured

By Jean Thompson
The Sun in Howard, May 12, 1996

The caretaker of a former seminary in rural Ilchester has been charged in the shooting of a trespasser during an early morning altercation yesterday that left the intruder critically wounded, Howard County police said.

Allen Rufus Hudson, 45, of the 4400 block of Bonnie Branch Road in Ellicott City, was charged with assault, battery, and assault with intent to murder, police said.

He was being held in the Howard County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail last night.

Colt James Conroy, 22, of the 1100 block of W. Hamburg St. in Baltimore was taken by friends to St. Agnes Hospital, where he underwent surgery, police said.

Conroy was listed last night in critical but stable condition with a shotgun wound to his left side, police said.

According to a police report, four people were trespassing early yesterday on the sprawling grounds of the former St. Mary’s College seminary for Redemptorist priests off Bonnie Branch Road.

The property is near the rambling Patapsco Valley State Park.

Police said the caretaker confronted the trespassers and ordered them to leave.

About 6:30 a.m., three adult males armed with baseball bats returned to the site, police said.

When these trespassers again confronted the caretaker and an associate, the caretaker fired his shotgun once.

A bullet stuck one of the trespassers in his left side, the police said.

The trespasser’s friends took him to St. Agnes and notified police, officers said.

The seminary was closed several years ago by the Redemptorists.

Sun staff writer Alisa Samuels contributed to this article.

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