Two Security Guards Killed in Separate Incidents, One at Northrop Grumman Facility and One at a Texas Restaurant

Maryland: Security Guard Charged After Shooting Colleague at Defense Contractor Site

On January 28, 2026, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Anne Arundel County Police responded to a Northrop Grumman facility in the 7300 block of Aviation Boulevard in Linthicum, Maryland after a report of a shooting.

According to Anne Arundel County Police, two contracted security guards had gotten into a dispute inside the facility. One guard fired his weapon and struck the other in the head. The victim, 37-year-old Joseph Keith Aman of Baltimore, died at the scene.

A third contracted security guard stepped in, disarmed the shooter, and held him until police arrived. County police confirmed the incident was isolated and did not involve any Northrop Grumman employees. The guards worked for a contracted security firm, not the defense company itself.

The suspect, 26-year-old Dylan Blake Chandler of Pasadena, Maryland, has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and related offenses, according to Report Annapolis News, which reviewed the charging documents. Those documents allege Chandler told police he "snapped" before pulling the trigger. Chandler is being held without bond following a hearing in Glen Burnie District Court. He remains innocent until proven guilty.

The nature of the underlying workplace dispute that preceded the shooting has not been publicly detailed in the available charging documents.

Texas: Customer Kills Security Guard at Dallas-Area Lounge

A separate and unrelated incident in the Dallas suburbs ended similarly. According to DeSoto Police Lt. Chris Huerta, 47-year-old Derek Phillips of Arlington, Texas was shot multiple times and killed around 10 p.m. on a Friday night at the Brickhouse Lounge in DeSoto. Globalnews.ca reported the incident based on the police news release.

Witnesses told police the suspect, 48-year-old Toussel Kuhn of Savannah, had argued with Phillips over the business's rules before opening fire. Kuhn fled the scene, then crashed his vehicle in the neighboring city of Glenn Heights. Witnesses told police Kuhn was wounded by a bystander during the flight from Brickhouse Lounge.

Kuhn was subsequently arrested on a murder warrant and booked into Dallas County jail without bond. As of the source reporting, jail records did not list an attorney for him.

Lt. Huerta did not immediately respond to follow-up questions, according to Globalnews.ca, leaving some details about the bystander shooting unclear.

Two Different Contexts, One Common Thread

The two incidents share no direct connection, but together they illustrate the conditions security personnel routinely face: armed confrontations with people they know in one case, and with strangers in another.

Security contractors at defense facilities and restaurant bouncers occupy vastly different threat environments, and treating them as a unified category risks obscuring what policy responses, if any, make sense. Armed security personnel at a classified defense contractor operate under specific protocols and background requirements that have nothing to do with a lounge in DeSoto. Collapsing both into a single conversation about "workplace violence" may generate heat without producing useful reform proposals.

The Maryland case involves a closed, credentialed environment where the shooter and victim knew each other and the incident appears to have stemmed from interpersonal conflict. The Texas case involves a public-facing venue where a customer escalated a dispute with staff to lethal violence. Different problems potentially require different responses.

What Comes Next

In Maryland, Dylan Chandler's case will proceed through Anne Arundel County courts. The first-degree murder charge carries life imprisonment under Maryland law. No trial date has been publicly reported as of June 22, 2026.

In Texas, Toussel Kuhn faces a murder charge in Dallas County. Prosecutors have not publicly announced whether they will seek additional charges related to the bystander shooting. Kuhn's legal representation had not been confirmed in the available source material, which means his defense's account of events has not yet entered the public record.

Joseph Aman, 37, and Derek Phillips, 47, were both doing their jobs when they were killed.