Doctors at Maryland’s maximum-security psychiatric hospital believed Monet Thompson was doing well enough in 2017 to transition out of their care.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge agreed that July, signing an order releasing Thompson to a residential facility. It had been 14 years since she was found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity on an attempted murder charge for shooting her mother and committed to the Maryland Department of Health.

The Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center discharged Thompson to a residential rehabilitation program at Arundel Lodge Inc. in Annapolis, according to court records. Five years went by and, court records show, she stayed out of trouble. In 2022, the judge extended Thompson’s release under the condition she not have weapons and obey all laws.

Everything changed in an alleged spasm of violence last fall. In the span of a week, police allege, Thompson killed a fellow patient at Arundel Lodge and fatally shot a clinician from the program in a grocery store parking lot.

Thompson, 50, is charged with murder and use of firearm in the commission of a crime of violence in the Oct. 3 homicide of the clinician, Allison Faye McIntyre, 59.

She has pleaded not criminally responsible in that case, and her attorneys wrote that she “exhibits symptoms of schizoaffective disorder.”

Charges have not been filed against her in the Sept. 26 death of fellow Arundel Lodge patient John Thomas Logan III, 47, but police previously identified her as a person of interest in the homicide.

This month, Thompson’s attorneys filed court papers asking that her pending case be postponed because the Annapolis Police Department “believes they have sufficient evidence to charge” her in the other killing.

Her public defender declined to comment.

Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson said charges against Thompson are imminent in Logan’s death, saying his detectives were coordinating with the office of Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess.

Leitess declined to comment.

Jackson told The Banner the case illustrates the gun violence epidemic in America.

“There’s no way that defendant should have had access to a firearm,” said Jackson, later adding: “We have to find a better way to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness.”

It’s unclear to investigators how Thompson obtained the revolver that police suspect she used in both killings. Police said the bullets and fragments recovered, which were the same caliber, were severely damaged, preventing analysts from confirming they were fired from the same gun.

Responding around 7 p.m. Sept. 26 to reports of a shooting in a Georgetown Road apartment building, Annapolis Police officers found Logan with apparent gunshot wounds in a kitchen dining area, Jackson said.

Jackson described the apartment building as transitional housing, and state property records show Arundel Lodge owns it.

A message left with an Arundel Lodge representative was not returned.

Online court records show Logan was found not criminally responsible for robbery in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in 2020 and committed to the health department’s care.

As in Thompson’s case, state doctors eventually believed he was ready for step-down care and a judge ordered him released from the health department in 2022. At some point, he wound up at Arundel Lodge.

People found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity either cannot understand what they did was illegal or conform their behavior to the law — or both. If deemed legally insane, they are committed to the health department indefinitely.

Only when department doctors believe a patient no longer poses a danger to themselves or others can patients ask a judge for release to less restrictive care. Prosecutors can oppose release, but it’s ultimately up to a judge.

According to Logan’s obituary, he attended Anne Arundel County Public Schools before working at an auto body shop in Annapolis and later cutting and installing granite countertops. The obituary said he left behind three sons and three granddaughters.

“John always had a smile on his face and will be remembered for his infectious laughter,” the obituary said. “He was very family oriented and did his best to attend his loving sons’ football, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer games, and swim practices. He loved football and was an avid Washington Commanders fan.”

Jackson said investigators believe Thompson and Logan knew each other because there were no signs of forced entry at his apartment. He added that the GPS system in Thompson’s car placed her at the scene, in addition to video that appeared to show someone who looked like her leaving Logan’s apartment that night.

A week later, around 5:20 p.m. Oct. 3, Annapolis police officers were dispatched to the Safeway parking lot on Forest Drive for a shooting. Charging documents say officers found McIntyre with a gunshot wound to the head in a gray Honda SUV. Medics pronounced her dead.

Video that detectives pulled from a transit bus camera showed Thompson get out of a blue Toyota, walk to McIntyre’s SUV and get in the passenger side, they wrote. McIntyre began to drive.

“McIntyre’s vehicle instantaneously braked and the vehicle came to a complete stop,” a detective wrote in charging documents. “The passenger door opened and Ms. Thompson was observed exiting the vehicle... while placing an item inside the right leg pocket while walking back to her blue Toyota.”

Detectives wrote that they recognized Thompson’s shoulder-length curly blonde hair, which was like that of a person of interest in Logan’s homicide about a week earlier. Her motive remains unclear, police said.

“She was a psych patient, and the victim was a clinician,” Jackson said.

McIntyre was survived by three children and one grandson, according to an obituary.

“She was blessed with the gift of laughter and big, warm hugs that she freely gave to those who wanted one. Allison didn’t collect material things; she collected friends,” the obituary said. “All that mattered to her were people and animals, and she devoted herself to helping them in any way they needed.”

In 2002, Thompson’s mother awoke to her daughter standing over her and striking her with a handgun at a Windsor Mill apartment, according to charging papers and police reports obtained by The Banner. When the mother tried to run away, the report says, Thompson shot her multiple times.

About a month after Thompson was charged with attempted murder, she sent a letter to a Baltimore County detective saying she shot her mother because Thompson believed she was being stalked by “an unknown subject,” the investigator wrote.

“Sad life of mental illness,” said Jackson, the Annapolis police chief.