In the quiet rural crossroads of Carroll County, Maryland, a business debt of $50,000 became the seed of irreversible violence. Austin Potocki, a 31-year-old pool company owner from York County, was convicted on April 2 of first-degree murder for the premeditated ambush killing of Benjamin Billings and the wounding of David Anderson — men bound to him not by enmity, but by contract. The case reminds us how ordinary financial grievance, left to fester in isolation, can metastasize into something that shatters families and ends lives at a rural intersection on a December morning.
Pool company owner guilty of murder in Maryland ambush shooting
Benjamin Billings, 33, was killed in the shooting; David Anderson was injured; Anderson's 13-year-old son witnessed the gunfire while waiting for his school bus.
The grief has been overwhelming, and although we are grateful for the outcome of the trial, it will not bring our gentle giant back.
Mark
So this started as a business loan dispute—$50,000—and ended in a murder conviction. How does that escalation happen?
Mimi
The contract was structured so Potocki would assign all his pool work to Anderson's company. Anderson kept the profits, which would be credited toward the loan. Potocki made no payments from April 2024 through January 2025. Then Anderson sent him a text showing he'd won a civil case against another business partner, essentially warning him what was coming.
Luke
But we don't have Potocki's side of the story, right? His attorney declined to comment. We know Anderson's version of the evidence—the hit list, the surveillance photos, the searches about head shots. Those are powerful details, but they come from the investigation and from what Anderson told the court.
Mark
What about the physical evidence? The rifle, the ammunition?
Mimi
Investigators found .223-caliber ammunition and shell casings during searches of his home and storage facilities. They believed he'd tried to destroy the casings. No casings were found at the scene, so they concluded he'd used a device to catch them while firing. The digital evidence from his phones and computers helped place him near the intersection at the time.
Luke
That's solid—the ammunition matches the caliber, the casings match. But the "device to catch casings" is an inference, not something they recovered at the scene. It's a reasonable inference given the facts, but it's worth naming as such.
Mark
What about the letter to his wife? That seems damning.
Mimi
Police found a letter Potocki addressed to his wife directing her to dispose of evidence hidden in a bucket of pool chemicals. They also found a makeshift silencer in a truck oil filter. Both items were recovered during the search. Mary Anderson described these details in her statement to the press.
Luke
Again, we have the police account and Anderson's account. We don't have Potocki's explanation or his attorney's defense strategy, because his attorney hasn't spoken publicly.
Mark
The boy heard the gunfire. That's the part that stays with you.
Mimi
David and Mary Anderson's 13-year-old son was waiting for his school bus that morning when the shooting happened. Mary said he's struggled with Billings' death. Billings was 33. He was the driver.
Mark
And Potocki remains in jail?
Mimi
Yes, bail was denied. He's been held in Carroll County since his extradition in early January. Sentencing is June 4.
Luke
The civil judgment is interesting too—$57,500 initially, then reduced to $6,239 in May. We don't have the explanation for that reduction in the reporting, so that's a gap worth noting if anyone's following the civil side of this.
Der Puls
- A $50,000 business loan gone unpaid quietly transformed into months of stalking, surveillance, and a handwritten hit list — the architecture of a planned killing.
- On the morning of December 13, 2024, a rifle fired from ambush killed Benjamin Billings and wounded David Anderson, while Anderson's 13-year-old son stood nearby waiting for his school bus.
- Investigators unraveled the plot through digital forensics, a letter to Potocki's wife instructing her to destroy evidence, a homemade silencer, and a trail camera SIM card recovered from his laptop.
- Potocki was arrested ten days after the shooting as he backed out of his own driveway, extradited to Maryland, and has remained jailed with bail denied ever since.
- A Carroll County jury returned a guilty verdict on first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, with sentencing set for June 4 and victim impact statements from the Anderson family expected.
In the quiet rural crossroads of Carroll County, Maryland, a business debt of $50,000 became the seed of irreversible violence. Austin Potocki, a 31-year-old pool company owner from York County, was convicted on April 2 of first-degree murder for the premeditated ambush killing of Benjamin Billings and the wounding of David Anderson — men bound to him not by enmity, but by contract. The case reminds us how ordinary financial grievance, left to fester in isolation, can metastasize into something that shatters families and ends lives at a rural intersection on a December morning.
Austin Potocki, a 31-year-old pool company owner from West Manheim Township in York County, was convicted on April 2 of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder by a Carroll County, Maryland jury. The verdict stems from a December 13, 2024 ambush on a rural road outside Finksburg, where Potocki fired a .223-caliber AR rifle at a pickup truck carrying David Anderson and Benjamin Billings. Billings, 33, was killed. Anderson was shot in the arm and survived.
The violence grew from a business arrangement gone sour. Anderson's company, Legacy Pool and Spa, had loaned Potocki $50,000 in April 2024 under a contract that funneled Potocki's pool renovation profits toward repaying the debt. By the time of the shooting, Potocki had made no payments. Nine days before the ambush, Anderson had texted Potocki a warning about the legal consequences he faced.
Evidence presented at trial painted a portrait of months-long premeditation. Police found a hit list naming pool company owners in Maryland and Pennsylvania, with Anderson's name at the top. Potocki had photographed the intersection from a hillside, searched online for information about gunshot wounds, and fashioned a makeshift silencer from a truck oil filter. A letter to his wife instructed her to destroy evidence hidden in pool chemicals. No shell casings were found at the scene — investigators believe Potocki used a device to catch them as he fired.
Digital evidence from phones and computers recovered during searches of his home and storage facilities placed Potocki near the scene at the time of the shooting. He was arrested on December 23 as he backed out of his driveway, extradited to Maryland in early January 2025, and has remained jailed with bail denied.
David Anderson's wife, Mary, described the grief as overwhelming. Their teenage son — just 13 years old and waiting for his school bus that morning — heard the gunfire that killed Billings. The family plans to deliver victim impact statements at Potocki's sentencing hearing on June 4. In a separate civil proceeding, a Carroll County judge issued a confessed judgment against Potocki for the unpaid loan, later adjusted to $6,239.
Austin Potocki, a 31-year-old pool company owner from West Manheim Township in York County, was found guilty on April 2 of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. A jury in Carroll County, Maryland, determined that Potocki ambushed and fired a rifle at a pickup truck carrying two men on a rural road outside Finksburg on the morning of December 13, 2024. Benjamin Billings, 33, the driver, was killed. David Anderson, the passenger, was shot in the arm and survived.
The shooting emerged from a business dispute between the two pool service companies. Anderson's firm, Legacy Pool and Spa, had loaned Potocki $50,000 in April 2024 under a contract that required Potocki to assign all his pool renovation and new construction contracts to Anderson's business. Potocki would oversee the projects while Anderson kept the profits, with earnings credited toward repaying the loan. By January 2025, Potocki had made no payments on the debt. Nine days before the shooting, Anderson had texted Potocki a screenshot from a civil case he'd won against another business associate, with a message warning Potocki about the legal consequences he faced.
Investigators found evidence suggesting months of premeditation. Police discovered a hit list naming pool company owners in Maryland and Pennsylvania, with Anderson's name at the top. Potocki had taken photographs from a hillside at the intersection where the shooting occurred and had searched online for information about head shots and body shots. A trail camera SIM card was recovered from his laptop—Anderson alleged Potocki had removed it to prevent being recorded on his route to the shooting location. Police also recovered a letter Potocki had written to his wife instructing her to dispose of evidence hidden in a bucket of pool chemicals, as well as a makeshift silencer fashioned from a truck oil filter. Both items were found during a search of his home and rental storage facilities.
On the morning of the shooting, investigators believe Potocki waited near Patapsco and Wesley roads for the truck Billings was driving. When it arrived, Potocki fired a rifle multiple times at the vehicle. The weapon was a .223-caliber AR rifle. No shell casings were found at the scene, leading investigators to conclude Potocki had used a device to catch them as he fired. Police later recovered .223-caliber ammunition and discarded casings during searches of his property, and they believed Potocki had attempted to destroy the casings. After the shooting, Potocki allegedly ran to a vehicle he had parked elsewhere and drove away.
Anderson provided investigators with a list of names of people who might have targeted him and Billings. Police interviewed Potocki days after the shooting and identified him as the primary suspect. A warrant was issued in Maryland. On December 23, ten days after the shooting, Carroll County police alerted a West Manheim Township officer that Potocki was preparing to leave his home. The officer stopped Potocki as he backed a car out of his driveway and took him into custody. Carroll County detectives then searched his home and storage facilities, finding phones and computers. Digital evidence from those devices helped establish a timeline placing Potocki near the scene at the time of the shooting. Potocki was extradited to Carroll County in early January 2025 and has remained jailed there with bail denied.
Mary Anderson, David's wife, said the grief has been overwhelming. She noted that her husband was emotional when the verdict was read and that their teenage son has struggled with Billings' death. The boy was 13 years old and waiting for his school bus when he heard the gunfire. Mary Anderson thanked investigators and trial witnesses for their work. She said the family intends to deliver victim impact statements at Potocki's sentencing hearing, scheduled for June 4. A judge has ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be conducted.
In civil proceedings, Anderson sued Potocki over the unpaid loan. A Carroll County judge issued a confessed judgment against Potocki on January 21 for $57,500, later reduced to $6,239 in May. The confessed judgment is a legal mechanism available in Maryland that allows lenders to obtain a ruling against a borrower for the outstanding balance without a trial or hearing.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The grief has been overwhelming and although we are grateful for the outcome of the trial, it will not bring our gentle giant back. That is a wound that is never going to heal.— Mary Anderson, widow of Benjamin Billings
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Crime & Justice