The killing of a Maryland judge is part of a growing trend that's putting the judiciary at risk, a former US Marshal says

• A Maryland judge was shot to death, and police suspect a man the judge had ruled against in a divorce case.
• The suspect is on the run, and police say he is considered "armed and dangerous."

A Maryland judge was shot to death outside his home on Thursday night — and police say the suspect is the man he ruled against in a divorce case earlier that day.

The judge was killed in his driveway while his wife and son were home, law enforcement said, adding that the 49-year-old suspect is still at large.

The shocking attack on a sitting judge is part of a violent trend that thousands of judges across the country have already been exposed to, according to John Muffler, a former US Marshal and principal of Aequitas Global Security, who specializes in security threats to the judiciary.

Muffler said attacks against judges and their families occur "frequently," though they don't always result in death. Even more common than attacks are violent threats and inappropriate communications.

"There isn't any judge at any level that is not at risk," Muffler told Insider.

Judge Wilkinson was shot to death Thursday

Maryland Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson, 52, was found with gunshot wounds in the driveway of his Hagerstown, Maryland, home on Thursday night, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

Wilkinson later died at a nearby hospital, Sheriff Brian Albert said at a press conference Friday.

Earlier that day, Wilkinson had ruled against 49-year-old Pedro Argote in a divorce proceeding where he banned Argote from having any contact with his four children or their mother, granted possession of the family home to Argote's wife, and ordered Argote to pay $1,120 a month in child support, The Herald-Mail reported, citing court documents.

It was Wilkinson's only case of the day, leading police to pursue Argote as the primary suspect in the targeted killing, the sheriff said.

Argote does not have a criminal record in Washington County, the sheriff said, but officers had responded to several verbal domestic assaults at Argote's home in the past few years.

Police are still searching for Argote, who is considered "armed and dangerous," the sheriff said.

Albert said officers were stationed at the homes of other local judges throughout Thursday night as a precautionary measure, but his department does not believe any other judges in the county or state are currently in danger.

Threats against judges are on the rise

Muffler said the killing reflects a growing society-wide issue where everyone from judges to politicians to celebrities face regular threats from the public. Threats to the judiciary have always been a "consistent problem," he said, but law enforcement has noticed an increase within the last 10 years.

Though Muffler said data for state and local courts is difficult to come by, the federal data from the US Marshals Service shows that federal judges were the targets of over 4,500 threats and other inappropriate communications in the year 2021.

Judges who rule on family law cases appear to be at particularly high risk, Muffler said. That appears to be the case in Thursday's fatal shooting in Maryland.

Muffler said the facts that have been disclosed so far line up with the stereotypical profile of a judicial attacker.

"With judicial attackers, it's most likely always case-related. So you have that connectivity — it's because of their job, it's because of their decision that they made that puts this person on what's called a pathway to violence," Muffler said. "They have a grievance, whether it's real or perceived."

Judicial attackers also frequently target the judges' homes, rather than their workplaces, as has been the case in multiple prior judicial attacks.

In 2020, Judge Esther Salas was targeted at her New Jersey home by a man whose civil case she presided over. The man posed as a FedEx driver, rang Salas' doorbell, and shot her 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl to death.

In 2015, Travis County District Judge Julie Kocurek was similarly targeted at her home by a man whose criminal case she previously ruled on; she was shot at four times and survived the attack.

And in 2005, US District Judge Joan Lefkow was targeted by a man who lost a medical malpractice case she presided over; the man shot Lefkow's husband and mother to death in Lefkow's Chicago home.

"The gloves are off for people in authority," Muffler warned.