US Marshals offer $10,000 reward in manhunt for Maryland man suspected of gunning down judge who was overseeing his divorce proceedings

• The US Marshals Service is offering a $10,000 reward for information on Pedro Argote.
• Argote is suspected of shooting and killing a Maryland court judge on Thursday.

A manhunt was ongoing on Saturday for the man suspected of fatally shooting the Maryland state judge overseeing his divorce proceedings.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office told reporters in a press conference that a local resident recently found the abandoned car belonging to the suspect, 49-year-old Pedro Argote.

Argote is wanted for the shooting death of Andrew Wilkinson, a Maryland circuit court judge, on Thursday.

On Friday, the US Marshals Service announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to Argote's arrest. The agency said Argote should be considered armed and dangerous and has "ties" to other cities, including Brooklyn and Long Island, New York; Tampa and Clearwater, Florida; Columbus, Indiana; and other unknown cities in North Carolina.

Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert told reporters he doesn't believe the public is at risk, but said people should remain vigilant as authorities search for Argote.

Albert said police are searching vacant residences in the Williamsport area, and are concentrating their search in a fairly remote area.

"We're gonna catch this guy, it's just a matter of time," Albert said.

Wilkinson on Thursday gave Argote's wife sole legal custody of their four children at a hearing which Argote did not attend, according to NBC.

Wilkinson attributed his decision to a finding of "cruelty of treatment" and "irreconcilable differences" in court, according to the outlet.

Argote's wife filed a domestic violence report against him in June 2022, alleging physical abuse against a child, NBC reported. The petition was dismissed less than two weeks after the filing, according to the report.

In the report, the woman said she felt unsafe because Argote kept a weapon and she was scared he would try and take the children away, according to NBC.

On Saturday, however, Albert told reporters Argote did not have issues with law enforcement prior to Wilkinson's shooting. Albert said police had responded to his home multiple times in the past for verbal domestic disputes, but not physical ones.

Wilkinson's shooting death is part of a disturbing trend of violent attacks against sitting judges that has escalated in recent years. Judicial attackers frequently target judges at their homes, over perceived grievances stemming from their cases, according to John Muffler, a former US Marshal and principal of Aequitas Global Security, who specializes in security threats to the judiciary.

"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.