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August 12, 2009

Community leader shot

The woman hit by a stray bullet inside her Cherry Hill home Tuesday night is a community activist and has headed the Cherry Hill Tenant Council for the past five years. She's well known in her community, and when I stopped by this morning, two police cars were parked out front and neighbors slowed as they drove by and waved and made sure she's ok.

"I'm blessed," Shirley Foulks (in photo next to the bullet hole) shouted back, pausing between conversations on the phone, with the officers and with me. A crime lab tech came to the house to photograph a bullet casing found on her walkway.

Shirley had spent most of Tuesday visiting businesses to make sure they will donate back-to-school items for a fair on Saturday at the community center on Spellman Road. It is the kind of work that Shirely does tirelessly for her community.

Jack Baker, the head of the Southern District Police Community Relations Council, sent me this e-mail:

The wonderful lady who was hit is Ms. Shirley Foulks, President of the Cherry Hill Homes Tenant Council. Shirley has worked tirelessly for many years for all of the tenants of Cherry Hill Homes but especially the children. I have worked with Shirley for over five years on safety issues along with my teammates, the Southern District Police officers. I have been blessed to know Shirley, but working with her is an even greater blessing. The woman gives not just her time, but anything she owns, especially her love, to anyone who needs it. Let's all pray for her speedy recovery.

I'll have more on this shooting in Thursday's Crime Scene article.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:03 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Neighborhoods
        

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About Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.

Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.



Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011.
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