This story was published in partnership withThe Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence.
Once again, someone had lodged a complaint against the ramshackle property that belonged to Donald Willey.
This was her first visit to Willeys place, though he was locally infamous.
TEST CASEWilley is suing to overturn Maryland’s red-flag law with the help of the SAF.Courtesy of TLC
Over the previous 18 years, he had been involved in one feud after another.
There were repeated warnings, court dates, and jail.
Once, he was featured on an episode ofHoarding: Buried Alive.
The place looked more like a junkyard than a home.
A skid loader and an excavator were in disrepair.
The cab of a broken-down backhoe was packed with still more junk.
Tucked amid the chaos was an unfinished two-story house, where Willey lived.
The second level had an ornate wooden front door, but there were no stairs leading up to it.
Willeys property was on a residential street.
One neighbor shared a fence with him, and Willeys belongings cascaded right up against it.
After Webb and Esham left, the inspector composed a letter to Willey.
Everything had to be removed, properly tagged, or screened from outside view by June 4.
A month later, there were two massive fires on Willeys property.
When the judge ruled in her favor, it seemed the story might end.
The SAF sued Webb, the county sheriff, and the attorney general of Maryland on Willeys behalf.
The organization had already reshaped America once.
After the Parkland, Florida, schoolshootingin 2018, red-flag statutes had broad bipartisan support.
The National Rifle Association was open to them.
As president, Donald Trump had called for their implementation.
Gun violence and suicide were unrelenting scourges.
Shooters often displayed troubling behaviors, struggled with mental health, telegraphed their deadly acts.
But then, rather quickly, a reactionary view took hold.
Opponents reframed red-flag laws as tools of retribution.
The right-wing echo chamber expanded, until there was consensus.
Red-flag statutes violated due-process rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Instead of one enemy, Webb suddenly faced an onslaught: Congrats on the lawsuit, you dumb cunt!
You vindictive little Karen you, wrote another.
SUSAN WEBB WAS 47, with dark features and thick, black glasses.
She was not, according to people who knew her from work and the community, a political person.
She just stayed in her lane.
She would tell you, Stay within the code, and youre good.
Adams adds, Susan was honest as the day is long.
The community there could be hidebound and skeptical of outsiders.
Were very isolated on the Eastern Shore, she remarks.
Stangl reached out to Webb, who was just starting to implement reforms.
And that didnt happen when Susan was here.
She has never been anything but fair.
She goes by the book.
The law is the law, and she will follow it.
Still, Stangl says, people would like us to go back to the good old days.
Webbs boss in Cambridge was a man named Odie Wheeler.
He also viewed her as someone unlikely to make impulsive, unilateral decisions about enforcement.
Punitive action was a last resort.
It was stapled to a stake, which he drove into the ground of Willeys yard.
He then returned the next day, government documents show, and introduced himself to Willey.
Esham explained the violation, and what Willey would need to do to fix it.
This, for Willey, was not an unfamiliar situation.
He is six feet tall and 220 pounds.
He maintained his erect bearing, but was seldom clean-shaven, his beard sometimes growing long and bushy.
He was raised on the island, and known by virtually everyone there.
But his life was a solitary one.
He delights in his resemblance to Stonewall Jackson, and has sometimes portrayed him during Civil War reenactments.
He is not shy about his politics or Christian faith.
I need to get another Trump hat, he wrote on Facebook in 2020.
One for work and another when Im casually dressed and going out in public.
Im not afraid to show my colors.
He posted memes about God and championed the Confederate flag.
He repeatedly spoke with Willey, but to no avail.
He has robbed us of our homes values.
He has robbed us of a peaceful neighborhood.
He is a threatening person.
None of it made a difference, leaving his neighbors in agony and fear.
He accused a resident of that house of flicking cigarette butts over a fence and into his yard.
The neighbor denied the allegations, and said running tidewater sometimes carried debris.
The neighbor insisted he had done no such thing and wishes Willey would just leave him alone.
At one point, he turned to a twisted piece of metal.
What it is, its the tail end of a bomb, he said.
I figured it could go outside and hang it on the side of the garage or something.
During the episode, Willey spoke about his mental health.
He began to cry.
Its gone over my mind many, many, many times.
That same sound, that same sequence.
This is the most frustrated Ive ever been at a haul-out ever, Beaton remarked.
He keeps getting in the way.
In the episode, Willey was by turns contrite, defiant, a bit ominous.
I dont believe in suicide, but, you know, where is it going to end?
In November 2013, Willey sent the judge a letter containing a surprising disclosure.
Still, he remained impervious to consequences.
Officers came by in the afternoon, and found the animal in the front yard.
The police report noted that it appeared the dog had died recently.
Willey told the officers the animal had strangled itself on its leash that morning.
The officers were satisfied, and apparently did not inquire why Willey had left the carcass in the yard.
The sky darkened, and, video showed, it appeared the flames might spread to neighboring properties.
Willeys deadline for bringing his property into compliance came and went.
Going forward, Esham would conduct weekly visits to the property.
This one was electrical, and again threatened to spread to neighboring properties.
According to an incident report, firefighters arrived around 10 a.m.
The May 31 deadline officially passed.
In early June, Webb and zoning inspector Tyler Bennett went to the island to post new violation notices.
When they drove up to the Parks Road property, Willey was in his yard.
According to a sworn affidavit he later filed, Willey said he respectfully declined to accept the letters.
It was not part of a boat, and instead resembled a large piece of rotted wood.
Webb, meanwhile, had the presence of mind to document a portion of the encounter.
A photograph shed taken captured Bennett stapling the laminated paper to the rotted wood.
The crucial act in Willeys retelling of the confrontation is false.
The tone was despondent.
Plus he comes after us when he thinks we are the ones complaining to the county.
My mental, physical, and emotional well-being has been so effected … that all I do is cry.
After the county requested bids to clean Willeys land, a contractor placed the total cost at $43,400.
On June 7, the contractor backed out of the project.
Then Webb received a letter in the mail.
The writer withheld their name; they wanted to stay anonymous for my own safety.
He has even stated this to a county councilman.
Webb added that she did not feel the threat was immediate, but acknowledged that she may be complacent.
Leonard responded, Im so sorry any of this is happening.
I am concerned about the safety of my staff.
I am concerned about the safety of him coming into the office for myself.
But that did not mean there werent signs to look out for.
Red-flag laws are a backstop, designed to fill gaps in the system.
Of those, 22 percent involved a named target.
In exchange, Webb dropped the ERPO.
On June 27, Willeys guns and ammunition were returned to him.
In total, he had been without them for 12 days.
This allows them to frame their opposition as principled rather than obstructive.
Donald Trump, then president, convened a school-safety commission, which endorsed red-flag laws.
That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as extreme-risk protection orders.
The National Rifle Association, still at the peak of its influence, made the same argument.
We need to stop dangerous people before they act, declared Chris Cox, then the groups top lobbyist.
So Congress should provide funding to states to adopt risk protection orders.
It appeared to be something of a grand compromise.
The guidance placed many firearm regulations in jeopardy.
Despite bipartisan support, President Joe Biden became the face of red-flag laws.
God willing, Biden said, its going to save a lot of lives.
Willey was also entitled to money, in an amount to be determined in a jury trial.
Moreover, Willeys SAF attorney said Marylands red-flag law was unconstitutional on its face.
The SAF, a nonprofit, was founded 50 years ago by an eccentric conservative activist named Alan Gottlieb.
In the 1980s, Gottlieb was convicted of filing a false federal-income-tax statement.
Its motto is Winning Firearms Freedom, One Lawsuit at a Time.
Youre guilty until proven innocent, he said in 2019.
The SAF lawsuit filed on behalf of Willey reconceived virtually every aspect of Willeys history with Dorchester County.
It did not acknowledge his various disputes with neighbors, whose complaints drove the county to take action.
He was bewildered and struggled to comprehend the surreal turn of events set into motion by Webb.
He was forced to remove his clothes and don a hospital gown at the medical center.
The the Kafkaesque experience was beyond stressful, even for a retired Marine and combat veteran.
The suit did not disclose that Webb had filed the red-flag petition under the guidance of the states attorney.
Her allegations were false and malicious.
One person said he was one of the finest men I have the honor to call my friend.
Another referred to him as helpful, respectful, and kind.
One letter, unlike the others, took a more nuanced approach.
It was written by a man who had known Willey since 1996.
The letter went on: He totally believes in harmonious relationships and in the live-and-let-live principle.
Recent confrontations have even been quite heated.
In 2020, Dean says, he and Willey worked together on a project to restore a local graveyard.
But the partnership fell apart.
On Facebook, Willey accused Dean of disrespect, and implying that my motives are self-serving.
He said that someone had broken into it and threw a firebomb inside.
He gave the officer Deans name.
Next thing I know, Dean recalls, Im getting a call from the fire marshal.
We laughed about it, and that was the end of that.
Dean was one of the few people who would talk about Willey on record.
Neighbors, citing fear of retribution, would not.
A 79-year-old man named Charles Kraushaar was another exception.
He lives near Hoopers Island and considers Willey a friend.
Kraushaar said he believes Willey is unstable.
He can go from zero to 200 in a heartbeat, he remarked.
Last summer, as the hostilities between Willey and Webb reached a zenith, Willey spoke candidly with Kraushaar.
Kraushaar went on: I will not lie for Donny.
InMinority Report,people are imprisoned in an induced coma.
But extreme-risk protection orders are a civil matter.
In either event, the decision is subject to appeal.
Two days after the SAF filed Willeys lawsuit, the group announced its Capture the Flag initiative.
The SAF set up a web page for the project to recruit potential plaintiffs.
The lawsuit and the campaign were covered by popular pro-Second Amendment outlets.
During his segment on Willey, he wore a black T-shirt that said ungovernable.
Yanis then attacked Webb.
Webbs inbox filled up with hate mail.
She was a coward, a tyrant, and a horrible person.
His name was Charles Kilmon, and he owned an antique shop in town.
He had information he thought he should share.
The boyfriend, according to Kilmon, had stored the guns in his home and in his Subaru.
His former employee, who is in her eighties, denies the account.
Recently, Kilmon saw her by chance, and, he said, she gave him the finger.
Youd never carry anything like that for protection, says Carl Leisinger, a ballistics expert.
It would be ridiculous.
The inventoried rifles were of a similar nature, and the shotguns were decades old.
The confiscated ammunition, however, was modern and incompatible with all of the weapons.
Many of them would explode, Leisinger says.
But he indicated that the plaintiffs narrative carried weight.
Willeys place has the feel of a forgotten wasteland.
This April, a neighbor emailed the office of planning and zoning, lamenting the situation.
I cant take any more.
Thats like making Al Capone a bank teller, he said.
