Baltimore Police and the Baltimore field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are offering a $5,000 reward for tips in a series of recent attacks in which makeshift firebombs have been thrown against homes, causing minor damage but raising concerns.

Since Sept. 13, there have been 13 incidents in which Molotov cocktails have been thrown at homes, largely in the area of Liberty Heights and Wabash avenues. The most recent occurred Nov. 16, and police believe the attacks are random.

Detectives will be canvassing Northwest Baltimore handing out fliers in hopes of generating information that could lead to an arrest, officials said. It reads, "Help make Baltimore safer. If you see something say something."

"Luckily, no one has been significantly injured, but we are not taking any chances," said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

The tip line is 1-888-ATF-FIRE.

For more on the firebombings, click here for a Nov. 15 story written by The Sun's Peter Hermann.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Two men who robbed a bank in April, and threatened to kill a teller, each face up to 25 years in prison when they are sentenced in February. Prosecutors said they stole $6,730 from a cash drawer, money that was later recovered in a vacant house.

The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said that Torre Laron Johnson, 35, of Baltimore, and Otis Nelson, 46, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty on Friday. Both were convicted in U.S. District Court in Baltimore for robbing the PNC Bank in Reistertown Road Plaza.

Prosecutors said Johnson stood by the entrance as a lookout. They said Nelson jumped over a small door separating the customer and teller areas, holding a small black semi-automatic handgun, and demanded money. "Nelson threatened to shoot the teller if she tried to give him any die pack," prosecutors said in a statement.

The duo left in a car driven by a third person. Police spotted the car about 10 minutes at Garrison Boulevard and Boarman Avenue after the robbery. Johnson was quickly caught; police said they found a ski mask next to him. Nelson ran down an alley, according to police, and was caught hiding under a porch, with rubber gloves in his pocket.

Prosecutors said police found the money in a vacant house along the escape route.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Talk about job security.

A 35-year-old man pleaded guilty today to burning down the tire shop where he worked, but his boss said he'd hire the arsonist again after he serves his 10 years in prison and completes 100 hours of community service.

The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office said Jason T. Hicks admitted to "flicking a lighter near a paint brush saturated with a mixture of tar and gasoline and a five-gallon bucket filled with liquid." He told police he was angry because he wanted to use a colleague's paint brush.

The September 26 fire at Belvedere Tires in Northeast Baltimore burned for days and sent plumes of dark smoke over several neighborhoods in Baltimore. It badly damaged the two-story shop that had been owned by the same family for generations.

But prosecutors said the owner didn't want Hicks jailed and "has said he would be willing to rehire the 35-year-old upon release."

The state's attorney's office said Hicks also will have to tour the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center as part of his release.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Three more makeshift firebombs were thrown against houses in Northwest Baltimore early Saturday, causing little damage and no injuries but raising concerns that a spate of nine similar attacks in September has renewed.

Baltimore police said they are conducting forensic testing on the bottles used in the Molotov cocktail attacks – including a Remy Martin and a Colt 45 – but thus far have few clues and no suspects.

In one case, a bottle bounced off a screen; in another the bottle went through a window but the lighted wick fell off and burned out outside. In the final incident, the lighted bottle broke through a window and set living room drapes on fire, according to fire officials.

“They appear to be attacking random houses,” said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, who added that detectives are investigating whether Saturday’s incidents are connected to the ones two months ago.

Continue reading "Baltimore police investigate three more firebombings" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A 36-year-old man was ordered held without bail on Tuesday after being arrested and charged with killing his grandmother inside her Northwest Baltimore home, according to city police and court records.

Demond Tyler was charged with first and second degree murder and assault in connection with the death of Shirley Tyler, 67, who was found by a family member Saturday morning unconscious inside her home in the 3200 block of Spaulding Ave in Central Park Heights.

Her death had not been previously reported because at the time it was listed as a suspicious death. Det. Jeremy Silbert, a city police spokesman, said there was no sign of trauma. A family member found the body, and police interviewed that person and the suspect, who lives in the house.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office said Tyler died of asphyxiation and ruled her death a homicide. Police interviewed Tyler again, according to Silbert, and he was arrested and charged. Silbert said detectives have not ascertained a motive.

Tyler was being held without bail at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center and could have a bail hearing in District Court on Wednesday.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Barry Murel, even by Baltimore standards, has had his share of trouble. Federal authorities say he's been convicted 11 previous crimes. On Thursday, a judge sent him away again, this time for 16 years for selling drugs and possessing a gun.

His record spans two pages of the Maryland judiciary court website -- convictions mostly for drugs and assault. He's never made his way into the newspapers.

Here is what the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office has to say about the now 12-time convicted criminal:

Continue reading "Convicted 11 times, suspect goes to prison again" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

A shooting early Sunday in Northwest Baltimore occurred in the parking lot of the Pimlico Race Course, apparently during a private birthday party at the venerable horse track.

An officer was working in the area of the parking lot at about 1:45 a.m. and heard several gunshots, according to police spokesman Jeremy Silbert. The officer saw a number of people leaving the area and located a 25-year-old man who had been shot in the head, chest, and arm, police said. Despite those injuries, police say the unidentified man was expected to survive.

The track closes at 12:30 a.m., but online postings show a private party for a West Baltimore clothing store owner was still going on there at that time. At $30 a head, organizers said the event sold out. Photos show the betting windows being used as a bar.

Maj. Johnny Delgado, the commander of the Northwest District, said the track in recent months has been holding more frequent private events, which has been a "logistical nightmare" for police with crowds sometimes in the hundreds.

"It's like a mobile nightclub disguised as a birthday party," Delgado said.

Officials from the Maryland Jockey Club said they were reviewing the circumstances surrounding the shooting. President Tom Chuckas said the party was only the second time the facility has been rented out for a late night private event.

"We look to generate additional revenues, and we take these events on a case by case basis," Chuckas said. "We vet them, and ensure there is sufficient support from private security, our security, Baltimore city police. This group approached us about having a late night party, and we gave it a try to see what would happen."

Chuckas said there were no incidents inside the track. "This is something that happened as everyone was vacating the building," he said.

Chuckas wasn't sure how, if at all, the shooting might affect his willingness to allow more late night events. "As a good corporate business, we're going to review all aspects of this party and determine if this was a one-time incident, or if it has the potential for more. We'll act accordingly," he said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

In case you were out enjoying the beautiful weather this weekend and missed the crime, here is a bit of what you missed:

A woman poured bleach and Pine-Sol on a Walmart customer in southern Baltimore County, police said, in an incident that closed down the store for several hours Saturday and sent 19 to area hospitals. The two women knew each other and were involved in a continuing dispute, police said.

State police say a traffic stop in Hagerstown led to a major marijuana seizure. A trooper pulled over the driver of a 1979 Cadillac early Friday morning for not having a working light on the rear license plate. State police troopers found a bag with nine pounds of freshly cut marijuana.

Baltimore city police said they were investigating an overnight shooting in Northwest Baltimore that injured a 25-year-old man. The man was found near Park Heights and Belvedere avenues shortly after an officer on patrol heard gunshots around 1:43 a.m. The victim, who was not identified, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, police said, adding that he was taken to a local hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Crime elsewhere, Northwest Baltimore
        

The man charged last week with setting a three-alarm fire at a Northwest Baltimore tire store was a longtime employee who was burned in the incident, court documents show.

Jason Hicks, 35, was charged with first-degree arson after he told investigators that he flicked a lighter near a brush being used by a co-worker and which was covered in tar and gasoline, court records show. That ignited a bucket of gasoline, which Hicks said he tried to take outside until it started to burn him. When he dropped the bucket, the back area of the shop went up in flames, police said.

The fire caused an estimated $170,000 in damage and took more than a day to contain. As of Monday morning, Hicks was being held on $150,000 bond. 

Records show that Hicks and another employee, Derrick Powell, were painting stacks of tires with a mixture of tar and gasoline to "make them look shiny."  Hicks said that Powell took a brush that he had been using, and that he twice told Powell he was using his brush, according to charging documents. He then took a lighter out of his pocket and flicked it at the brush, causing it to ignite, records show.

Hicks initially told police that he had been smoking a cigarette, and later acknowledged that he had not been truthful after detectives spoke to other employees, records show. He was hospitalized with second-degree burns to his right arm from the elbow down to his fingers.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A victim of one of the nine fire bombings in the city over the past three weeks described a scary ordeal. While little damage occurred, and no one was hurt, Mavis Mallett said was emerged lucky.

Early Wednesday, she said someone threw a whiskey bottle filled with gasoline and set on fire at her kitchen window. It shattered the glass but bounced off a screen and landed in a potted plant on an outdoor walkway, where it burned itself out. You can see the scorch marks on the aluminum siding in the picture.

Mallet said that had the perpetrator thrown the blazing bottle three inches to the right, it would've hit a part of the window not protected by a screen. ""It would've been all over," the 70-year-old retired youth worker told me. "We would've lost the house to fire."

It was even scarier for her house guest, Latoya Rowlette, 29, who said she awoke to the sound of breaking glass. She bolted her door shut, grabbed a pair of scissors and called police, telling the operator that someone was breaking in.

A day later, she had this to day: “It’s definitely different than the usual violence in Baltimore. Usually it’s bullets and shootings that are targeted. A Molotov cocktail is so old school.”

Meanwhile, police are asking for help in finding whoever is responsible. The attacks appear to be random, are occurring miles apart and at a pace of nearly one a night. For more details from police:

Continue reading "Victim of fire bombing describes close call" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

City police are investigating another home invasion incident in which the suspects entered a home claiming to be police.

Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman, said the latest occurred at about 3:20 a.m. in the 2800 block of Hilldale Ave in the West Forest Park Park Circle neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore.  Three men - two white and one black - forced their way into the home and yelled "Police," he said. One of them had a silver badge on his belt, and they handcuffed two people and began searching through the home, police said.

One victim broke free and approached one of the suspects, and was shot in the face, police said. He was transported to an area hospital, where he was last listed in stable condition. Guglielmi said the suspects fled in a silver vehicle.

There have been a number of similar incidents in recent months. In June, three men kicked in the door to a home in the Ednor Gardens Lakeside community, bound a man and his wife, and shot the man. It happened again in Federal Hill the next month, as well as Northwest Baltimore. Police have arrested at least one man in those attacks.

The Hillsdale Road shooting wasn't the only home invasion overnight that ended with a shooting. At about 5 a.m., in the 4100 block of Townsend Ave. in Brooklyn, three masked men forced their way into a home and pistol whipped and bound the three occupants. A 25-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, and a 45-year-old man was shot in the stomach. Police believe the suspects were looking for drugs and other items.

The shooting victim was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, as were the two other victims. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore
        

A week ago, just six people had died in fires in Baltimore all year, meaning the city could've potentially ended 2011 with significantly lower deaths than than the 20 killed in blazes in 2010.

But then three people -- a mother and her two young sons -- were killed in a fire that swept through 10 rowhouses on a single block in Southwest Baltimore. Early this morning, two more people died in a house fire in Northwest Baltimore.

Investigators do not have a cause of the fire that killed three on Pulaski Street, and details are still coming in from the scene in Northwest. A reporter is out there and check back to The Baltimore Sun for more details.

The photo above is by The Sun's Jeffrey F. Bill.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A spasm of gun violence in Northwest Baltimore is being driven by long-simmering drug violence, while a man found shot in the head in a vehicle may have been an illegal taxi driver shot during a robbery, the district commander told residents Tuesday night.

Maj. Johnny Delgado, speaking at the monthly Northwest District Police Community Relations Council meeting, said some recent shootings in the district were believed to be "drug turf wars" and retaliatory violence. Four people have died from shootings in the past week.

He assured residents that officers were going after those who they believe are involved in the disputes. Wearing a bulletproof vest under his white commanders' uniform, Delgado said he had been out all day as officers served warrants and raided homes, and said he had personally made an arrest recently.

"We're taking the gloves off - we're out in full force," he said.

Early Sunday morning, police said two men - Tyrone McQueen, 28, and Gregory Toles, 30 - were shot before 4 a.m. in the 3600 block of Dolfield Ave. Delgado said the pair had left a 7-11 store and purchased food, crossed over rail road tracks and were sitting on the steps of a church when a man walked up and began talking to them, then opened fire.

Continue reading "Northwest shootings: drug turf battles, robbery of taxi driver" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Gregory Toles, 30, and Tyrone McQueen, 28, have been identified as the two men fatally shot early Sunday in Northwest Baltimore.

Police said Toles and McQueen were walking in the 3900 block of Dolfield Ave. when they were shot by an unknown gunman. They were found 15 feet apart, both bleeding from gunshot wounds to their heads. They were pronounced dead at the scene at about 4 a.m.

Police haven't released any information about motive or suspects. 

I found a Facebook page created after Toles' death. Someone wrote:

"They took him but he's not gone yall we goin dance our pain away for G money. Rest in peace Lil Ty and Gangsta boo they prbably somewhere having so much fun right now.."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Two men were killed early Sunday in a shooting on Dolfield Avenue in Northwest Baltimore according to city police.

Police said both men were walking in the street in Pimlico when they were shot -- one in the head, the other in the face -- shortly before 4 in the morning. Names of the victims have not yet been released; this morning police said they were both "John Does."

On Saturday, a woman was shot in the back in East Baltimore, in the 700 block of Broadway. The victim, in her 20s, was walking along the street when she was shot for an unknown reason, according to police. She was treated at an area hospital.

Police also identified two recent homicide victims:

-Robert James, 30, was the man shot while sitting in his vehicle at the intersection of E. 34th St. and Ellerslie Ave., near Waverly Elementary and the former Memorial Stadium site. Police haven't given a motive and the case remains open. James was from the 3400 block of Ravenwood Ave. and spent two months in jail late last year after being arrested on robbery and kidnapping charges. Prosecutors dropped the charges in December.

-Thomas Powell, 20, was identified as the man shot in the 400 block of N. East Ave. on Sept. 19. Police haven't released details about the case, which remains open. The shooting occurred in the Ellwood Park neighborhood, one of a few city neighborhoods where the Safe Streets anti-violence group does work. Powell's last known address was in the 5700 block of White Ave., in the Frankford neighborhood.

-Peter Hermann and Justin Fenton

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

A 29-year-old man involved in a double shooting Sept. 7 in Ashburton died Tuesday afternoon of gunshot wounds at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police had responded to the shooting and found the victim, identified as Isaiah Roane of the 5200 block of Leith Road, in the driver’s seat of a Buick sedan in a gas station parking lot in the 4200 block of Wabash Ave.

The second victim of the shooting was found inside a residence in the 3300 block of Belle Ave., and police determined the shooting had occurred in the 3500 block of Dolfield Ave. The second victim recovered from his injuries.

Police did not provide a motive and the case remains open, according to a department spokesman.

Court records show Roane was acquitted earlier last month - about two weeks before the shooting - of drug charges in Circuit Court.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A city jury has convicted a man in a September 2009 daylight killing in Northwest Baltimore, and in another case, a judge sentenced a man to 90 years in prison in a double shooting in East Baltimore in 2008 that left one victim dead.

In the first case, prosecutors said Charles Thomas was found guilty of first-degree murder for approaching Alvin Terry Alston, 45, from behind and shooting him in the head. The attack occurred about noon on a Sunday at the busy intersection of Cold Spring Lane and Reisterstown Road. Thomas, 47, faces life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 8.

In the second case, Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon sentenced James Fortune to nearly a century behind bars for shooting Sidney Millner and Natavien Henry at the D&N Liquor Store on North Stricker St. in January 2008. Millner died from his injuries; prosecutors said Henry was paralyzed from the neck down. Fortune, 36, was convicted of second degree murder. 

The Sun's Justin Fenton wrote more about Fortune and of his previous murder conviction:

Continue reading "Man convicted of murder; another sentenced to 90 years in killing" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore Shomrim, the volunteer patrol group from Northwest Baltimore, is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a theft of "shul pushkas," or charity boxes, from a synagogue.

City police spokesman Jeremy Silbert confirmed that police are investigating a theft from a synagogue in the 6800 block of Park Heights Ave. He could not provide a specific date, but a timestamp on a photo distributed by Shomrim appeared to be from the early morning hours of Sept. 5.

Here are some of the photos that are being disseminated:

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

This post has been updated.

Amid pounding rain, city police were investigating an afternoon shooting in Northwest Baltimore.

Details were scarce, but police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that officers were called to the 3300 block of Belle Ave., in the Ashburton neighborhood, for a report of a double shooting. Officers found a man who had been shot in the shoulder and stomach; police later said a victim was located.

The unidentified victims were transported to an area hospital, and their conditions were not immediately known.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

It seems forever since last week when a Ravens player broke up a fight at an Inner Harbor restaurant. But now that Irene has blown through, we can return to our other all-consuming interest, and catch up with some crime we may have missed while battling winds and rain.

It didn't take long for the hurricane to pass before the gunmen came out: A 25-year-old man was in critical condition after he was shot in the chest Sunday afternoon by a masked assailant in northwest Baltimore, police said.

Here are some other headlines from the weekend:

* With a tap on his smartphone, University of Maryland student Shiv Krishnamoorthy can instantly alert police as he walks through the dimly lit corners of the College Park campus — and share with them his precise location, plus live video and audio.

* While concern about the economy has grown since the last mayoral election, crime remains the top worry among likely voters in Baltimore's Democratic primary next month. Thirty-nine percent of respondents to The Sun Poll rated crime, criminal justice or drugs as the most important challenge facing the city. That is down from 68 percent four years ago. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents ranked the economy, jobs or high taxes as the biggest challenge.

* A 15-year-old high school honors student in Ellicott City was secretly arrested when federal prosecutors say he went online to solicit money for a woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" and "Fatima LaRose." Authorities say that in Web postings two years ago, the youth "appealed for urgent funds" for the woman suspected of being a terrorist, whose real name is Colleen R. LaRose, 47, of Philadelphia. "I know the sister and by Allah, all money will be transferred to her," he allegedly wrote in a posting.

(Note: The Philadelphia Inquirer broke this story. Here is their first report, and a follow-up that details more of what federal authorities allege the boy had been plotting.)

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Downtown, Howard County, Northwest Baltimore
        

Police say a 19-year-old man has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after he was shot trying to rob an off-duty security guard in Northwest Baltimore.

At about 2:51 a.m. on Sunday, police were called to a report of shots fired in the 3600 block of Dolfield Ave. and found an off-duty security guard who said he had been robbed. He told police the suspect had pointed a gun at him, but he was able to pull his own service weapon and shoot the suspect.

A short time later, officers located Travis Vaughn, 19, in the 1900 block of Dukeland Street suffering from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Police determined Vaughn was the person who had been shot by the security guard. 

Vaughn has been arrested five times this year, court records show, including a drug arrest just 11 days before the shooting. He is awaiting an October trial on third- and fourth-degree burglary charges.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

In addition to the 91-year-old woman who stabbed to death in her Northeast Baltimore house Wednesday evening, city police are investigating several shootings.

The latest shooting occurred this morning at Monastery and Frederick avenues in Southwest Baltimore. Police said an adult male was shot in the side. Shorlty after midnight, an adult male was shot multiple times in the 2300 block Allendale Road in Northwest Baltimore.

About 10 p.m., police reported a man shot in the back in the 1700 block of Presstman St., in West Baltimore. in Sandtown-Winchester.

Details were slim on these cases this morning. We'll have more as information develops.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Neighborhoods, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Baltimore police say an officer shot an armed man in Northwest Baltimore early Tuesday. Here, Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi explains the shooting. The man was criticially wounded, and police said they recovered his gun.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings
        

A city police officer shot and wounded a man who authorities say was armed with a handgun early today in the 3900 block of Carlisle AVe., in Northwest Baltimore's Windsor Hills neighborhood. It's located west of Lake Ashburton.

Details are still coming in, but police said in a statement that the officer approached "an individual armed with a handgun. The officer fired at least one round and the suspect is struck at least once."

Police described the wounded man an adult who was taken to an area hospital where he was in critical and stable condition. Police said the officer was not hurt and the handgun was found at the scene. A news conference has tentatively been scheduled for later this morning. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings, West Baltimore
        

National Night Out has become a big community event, getting residents and cops together to take back the streets. Below is a list of events in the city and the counties, scheduled for today, Aug. 2

National Night outs:

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

Harford County

Anne Arundel County

Howard County

I could only find one in Carroll County, in Eldersburg. Here is a link to details. If anyone knows of more here, please let me know and I'll post.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Carroll County, City Hall, Confronting crime, East Baltimore, Howard County, Neighborhoods, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Court records show a 23-year-old man has been charged with shooting three people in Northwest Baltimore in March. Michael Santana, AKA Oswaldo Neal Santana, AKA Swado, AKA Swaldo, was arrested in June and charged with shooting Anthony Timpson, Travis Barnes, and Daquan Gardner on March 20.

Police first responded to the 4200 block of Pimlico Road, where they found Timpson suffering from gunshot wounds to his head, torso and limbs. Moments later, officers were dispatched to a McDonald's at the intersection of Reisterstown Road and Cold Spring Lane, where they found Barnes with a graze wound to the top of his head. Then, a shooting was reported in the 2600 block of Loyola Northway, where Gardner had been shot in the right calf.

Detectives were led to Santana, of the 2800 block of Rockrose Ave., when a witness identified him as the shooter and picked him out of a photo lineup, records show. He faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and related charges.  Santana has only one prior arrest - in 2009, on drug charges, which led to a five year prison sentence with all but time served suspended.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore's police commissioner has weathered storm after storm - constantly, it seems, forced to address everything from crime to corruption allegations in his department.

One of his friends died in a car crash, one officer shot and killed another in a case of mistaken identity, an off-duty officer killed an unarmed Marine outside a bar, and 50 officers have been implicated in kickback scheme involving a towing company. That's just the last year, and many observers - both within the department and outside - wonder how much more Frederick H. Bealefeld III can withstand.

Today, Justin Fenton explores the stress in the aftermath of the latest scandal -- a police officer charged with running a heroin network. City officials say they've brought the problems into the light and are addressing them, sometimes demonstrably, as in the case of Bealefeld personally taking the badges of officers implicated in the towing scandal. But the fact that the problems exist and continue is for others evidence of problems of supervision.

For his part, Bealefeld still has the support of elected officials and his police union.

Continue reading "Bealefeld toils through scandal" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

UPDATE, 6:15 P.M. For the full report, with details from court records, click here.

A Baltimore City police officer has been charged in a drug dealing conspiracy, officials confirmed.

The officer, Daniel G. Redd, was taken into custody Tuesday at the Northwest District police station. Details of the case were not immediately available, but law enforcement sources say Redd has been under suspicion for years.

An indictment was expected to be unsealed later today, while Redd was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court at 1:30 p.m.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that the FBI began investigating Redd at their request.

“We brought it to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to send a very clear message that corruption and potential criminal misconduct will not be tolerated in the police department,” Guglielmi said. “I think our track record speaks for itself, that we’re committed to holding ourselves accountable and vigorously investigating the slightest allegations.”

Redd was first hired in 1994, but was fired in 2002 after being found asleep on the job at the reservoir at Druid Hill Park, where he was supposed to be on anti-terrorist duty, The Sun reported in 2004. Redd sued and was rehired under a court order, and the city had to pay him $75,000 in back pay.

“This is not what taxpayers of Baltimore expect from police officers,” the police department’s then-legal counsel said after Redd and another officer were disciplined. “You have to send a message to troops that gross neglect of conduct will not be tolerated.”

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

When Dennis Gregory was shot and killed by Baltimore police officers in February 2010, the department reported that Gregory had aimed a gun at the officers, who fired back.

As it would turn out, The Sun reported in March for the first time, Gregory had been an informant who had summoned officers to the scene to report a friend armed with a handgun. It was the friend, Glenn Brooks, who exchanged gunfire with the officers Chris Funk and Matthew Ryckman, who shot and killed Gregory, who was unarmed. Gregory's family said they had been stymied in their attempts to learn more about the case, with calls and visits to police going unacknowledged.

Now, in compliance with a Public Information Act request, the police department has released to The Sun hundreds of documents related to the investigation that shed some additional light on what led to the shooting. [The department initially withheld eight pages of the 17 page summary report without disclosing that the pages were not being released, as required by the public information law. The documents were only produced after a reporter challenged why the report did not include any statements from the officers involved in the shooting, which had been the crux of the initial request.]

The new documents reaffirm that the shooting appears to be a tragic mistake in pursuit of an armed offender, though one which the family says the department has not been up front about and which some say is indicative of poor training.

Continue reading "Documents: Report on shooting that killed unarmed informant" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings
        

From Sun reporter Julie Baughman:

Baltimore police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man suspected of holding up several convenience stores in the city.

At least four robberies have occurred over the past two weeks in the north, northwest and northeast parts of Baltimore — all targeting 7-Eleven and Royal Farms stores.

According to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the gunman is considered “armed and dangerous.” Guglielmi said that the man typically enters the store during off-peak hours and approaches the cash register under the guise of buying an item.

Once he reaches the register, he draws a semi-automatic gun from his waistband or pocket and then points it at customers and store clerks until he is able to empty the register of cash and checks, Guglielmi said.

Police described the man as a black male between 25 and 30 years old, standing between 5 feet 11 and 6 feet tall and weighing 160 to 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a tan or black baseball cap with a green or blue polo shirt, dark jeans, black tennis shoes, sunglasses and a watch on his left wrist.

Police would not disclose the exact locations of the targeted stores to avoid interfering with the police tactics during their investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call the police robbery unit at 410-366-6341.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

Readers had some questions after Friday morning's post on the Court of Appeals overturning the convictions of two men in the gruesome slayings of three children in 2004. My apologies for not updating the blog before I left.

The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office will have to decide whether to retry the two men, who will remain behind bars. As of Friday, no decision has been made. As the article states, it could be difficult becuase one witness is dead and most others left or were deported to Mexico.

If prosecutors do not retry the case, the suspects will likely be deported to Mexico; they are illegal immigrants. In case you missed it, the appeals court overturned the convictions saying the judge had erred by not sharing notes from the jury with the defense team, who argued they would've changed their strategy given what jurors were thinking.

The case involved the 2004 near beheadings of three elementary school children in Northwest Baltimore. An uncle and cousin were charged and convicted after a second trial; it was one of the most gruesome and complex cases in Baltimore in years.

Here is complete coverage of the decision and the case.

Read the Court of Appeals ruling.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

It was one of the most horrific slayings in Baltimore -- the May 2004 throat-slashing murders of siblings Lucero Espinoza, 8, Ricardo Espinoza, 9, and their cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10.

The dead children's uncle, Policarpio Espinoza, and the victim's cousin, Adan Canela, were convicted of murder after two lengthy and complex trials. Today, the Maryland Court of Appeals overturned the convictions, ruling the jude's failure to turn over juror notes to defense lawyers prevented them from adequately presenting their case. The lawyers argued that they would've changed trial strategies based on the nature of the questions.

The city's new top prosecutor, Gregg Bernstein, now faces a tough decision. Can he retry this case a third time? It's made more difficult given that most of the witnesses were deported to Mexico after the convictions and one witnesses was killed in Mexico in a domestic dispute.

So far, Bernstein's office isn't saying much beyond he'll review the case. Here is complete coverage of this case, along with pictures, timelines and detailed trial coverage. \

Read the Maryland Court of Appeals decision.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

A 13-year-old girl is recovering from injuries suffered in a dog attack Tuesday afternoon in Northwest Baltimore, according to the city's Fire Department spokesman.

The attack occurred about 3:45 p.m. in the 5400 block of Narcissus Ave. Few details were immediately available, but officials said the girl had puncture wounds and cuts to her leg. She was being treated at Sinai Hospital.

Authorities had no details on what prompted the attack, or what happened to the dog.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

One man was shot and killed and another man was critically wounded in separate shootings on opposite sides of Baltimore Thursday night, according to city police. (plot city homicides at The Sun's crime map)

The fatal shooting occurred about 11:15 p.m. in the 3000 block of Spaulding Ave., in Park Heights. Police said a 26-year-old man was confronted by at least one gunman on the street and was shot several times.

Authorities said the victim, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was taken to Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:57 p.m. Police said they know of no motive and have not made any arrests.

About an hour earlier, at 10:20 p.m., police said officers responding to a report of a shooting in Northeast Baltimore found a 49-year-old man sitting in a car and suffering from a gunshot wound to the right side of the face. Police said the car was parked in the 3300 block of Erdman Ave.

The victim was taken to an unidentified hospital and was listed in critical condition Friday morning.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

A man was shot at least once during a confrontation on Wednesday afternoon at the Westside Shopping Center in Southwest Baltimore. The shooting, in the 2400 block of Frederick Ave., is being investigated by homicide detectives.

The victim was in critical condition this morning. Another man was shot in the 700 block of West Lanvale St. shortly after 9 p.m., and an adult female was shot shortly after midnight in the 3800 block of Reisterstown Road.

A man shot overnight at Park Heights and Spaulding avenues in Northwest Baltimore died from his injuries. No other details have been made available, but we'll update these as the day progresses. Map the city's homicides on our crime map.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

The family of Phylicia Barnes, the teenager who went missing from Northwest Baltimore in December and whose body was recently found in the Susquehanna River, has been set.  At left is Phylicia's brother Bryan Barnes, in a picture by The Sun's Amy Davis (complete coverage here).

The family released this statement:

HOMEGOING AND FINAL TRIBUTE FOR PHYLICIA SIMONE BARNES (1994 – 2010)

The immediate family (Sallis/Mustafa) of the late Phylicia Simone Barnes has released plans for her private funeral services. The service will take place on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 1:00 pm, at the Springfield Baptist Church of 3001 Old Salem Road in Conyers, Georgia.

Phylicia’s family wishes to thank her school family, law enforcement and the thousands of people that have expressed sympathies following her untimely demise.

Phylicia Barnes’ name rose to national prominence for a very ominous reason after she vanished on December 28, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland. News media, local and federal police, and volunteers joined the family in the search for Phylicia. Approximately 115 days later, her remains were discovered and positively identified.

The family of Phylicia Simone Barnes wishes to thank everyone that contributed to her search and ultimate recovery. They would also ask that we continue to pray and search for the scores of other citizens who continue to be classified as “missing”.

The family has asked that the public respect their request for a private homegoing service.  At their request, media cameras will not be permitted in the sanctuary.  The services can be accessed online via internet streaming at www.sbclive.org beginning at 1:00 pm.    

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Family and friends gathered Thursday night to remember Phylicia Barnes, the teenager from North Carolina who went missing from Baltimore in December and whose body was jound last week in the Susquehena River.

The vigil was held outside the apartment complex where Barnes was last seen. The same evening, mourners gathered at a church in her hometown of Monroe, N.C., for a memorial service. Here is  a picture from the Baltimore vigil taken by The Sun's Amy Davis. It shows cousins of Barnes, Christine Brown, left, and her sister Kathleen Ford, center, leading a prayer during a memorial vigil for Barnes. Behind them at center is Phylicia's father, Russell

The discovery of Barnes' body ends one mystery but now the search for how she died, and her killer, if she was murdered, begins. The Sun's Jessica Anderson, who was at the vigil in Baltimore reported that at one point people in the crowd "bowed their heads, some held white or purple candles — purple was Barnes' favorite color — and they wore shirts with her high school portrait. They formed a large circle that spilled into the parking lot."

"We're just still devastated by this," said Barnes' father, Russell. "It's been definitely a trying time, and it's not over."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A 34-year-old Baltimore man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for selling drugs after getting caught in an undercover narcotics deal. The suspect was identified as Barry Green.

Here are some details from the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office:

According to Green’s plea agreement, an undercover Baltimore Police officer drove to the corner of Pembridge and Spaulding Avenues where he had observed Green engaged in what the officer believed was the sale of illegal drugs.

Green approached the officer’s car and asked how many. The officer responded by asking for cocaine. Green walked to a nearby house on Pembridge Avenue, retrieved a small object from a windowsill and returned to the officer, giving him a vial containing cocaine in exchange for a pre-recorded $20 bill. 

The undercover officer drove away, contacted other officers in the area and described the events. The other officers quickly located Green, arrested him and seized $214, including the pre-recorded $20 bill, along with two more vials of cocaine from the windowsill. 
       

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Phylicia Barnes' family is trying to plan a funeral and figure out how she ended up at a dam in northeastern Maryland, where the body of long-missing teen was found last week. They're also stumped as to who the mysterious man was whose body was found near hers.

Relatives sat down with Sun reporter Jamie Smith-Hopkins on Easter Sunday. Here is a bit of what Jamie wrote (read full story):

As far as family members know, Phylicia Barnes had never traveled to the area around the Conowingo Dam, where her body was discovered last week after a long and frustrating search that began when the teen disappeared four months ago while visiting family in Baltimore.

Bryan Barnes, the North Carolina teen's 23-year-old half brother, said Sunday that he's hopeful police will make an arrest soon in connection with her disappearance and death. He said the family knows of no one missing who might be linked to Phylicia. The body of an unidentified male was found in the Susquehanna River near Phylicia's.

And he doubts very much that she woke up the day she disappeared and decided, without telling anyone, to head to northeastern Maryland on a whim. Her body was found 40 miles from Baltimore.

"That doesn't make any type of sense," said Bryan Barnes, in one of the most extensive interviews a member of her family has given since her body was identified. "She had no reason to be there, no reason whatsoever."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

From new story on Phylicia Barnes by reporters Raven L. Hill and Jessica Anderson: 

The discovery of Phylicia Barnes’ body ended one mystery and began another for police, who must now determine how the missing North Carolina teen ended up in a river 40 miles north of Baltimore, and identify the man found the same day in the same body of water.

Authorities said it could take the medical examiner’s office days, weeks or even months to determine how Barnes and the man died. A police spokesman said there are no apparent signs of trauma on either body pulled Wednesday from the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam (shown above in a picture by David Hobby).

“Our hearts are sad, but we stand strong,” said Phylicia’s father, Russell Barnes, who has led vigils and searches for his daughter since she disappeared Dec. 28 from a Northwest Baltimore apartment while visiting her half sister.

“We’ve got to find out who would do this to our angel,” Barnes said. “We are going to find out what happened with Phylicia. I told everyone at the beginning, her life will never be forgotten. Trust me, we’re not finished at all. The police assured me they are on this.”

The case attracted national attention, and her classmates at Union Academy in Monroe, N.C., held candlelight vigils in her honor. The school scheduled a news conference Monday to talk about Phylicia.

“Our hearts go out to Phylicia’s family and friends,” a statement from the school read.

Continue reading "Phylicia Barnes case moves forward; family mourns" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Harford County, Northwest Baltimore
        

This post has been updated 

Six men were reported shot, one fatally, in separate attacks within a 24-hour period spanning Thursday night and Friday, according to a Baltimore police spokesman. There have been 58 people killed in Baltimore thus far this year, compared with 52 at this time last year.

The latest shooting was reported about 11:10 a.m. in Northeast Baltimore. Police said a man was found shot in an alley off the 1700 block of Homestead St. He was wounded several times, police said. There was no immediate update on his condition.

Another man was shot about 2 a.m. in the 200 block of West Fayette St., as clubs and bars let out in the downtown. Police had few details and could not say whether the gunfire was connected to nightlife activities.

Police did say they had a person of interest in custody.

Here are addition details from city police:

Continue reading "Five shot in Baltimore" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Downtown, East Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

As the desperate search for missing honors student Phylicia Barnes came to a heartbreaking end Thursday, police said the discovery of her body in the Susquehanna River could be "instrumental" in hunting down new leads in a 4-month-old case that has yielded painfully few clues.

"We're at stage one of a new phase of the investigation," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III. "Finding her body is really going to be instrumental in giving us an opportunity to bring closure to the family. … It gives investigators a real opportunity."

The African-American teen from North Carolina was 16 years old when she disappeared Dec. 28 from her half sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment, touching off the Baltimore Police Department's most extensive missing-person investigation in years.

The discovery came with a twist: Another nude body, that of a black male, was pulled from the Susquehanna hours later Wednesday after being spotted by boaters about three miles to the south. He had not been identified, and while police said there's no evidence of a connection, they also said they could not rule one out.

Col. Terrence Sheridan, the superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said police throughout the region have been notified about that body, and additional tests would be conducted on both to determine how they died.

"Our mission today is to find out what occurred with Ms. Barnes and the unidentified man recovered at the same time," Sheridan said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Harford County, Northwest Baltimore
        

A man found injured in a what police at first thought was a car accident near Lake Ashburton Sunday night had been shot in head, city police said this morning. More details are expected later thiis afternoon, but police say it occurred about 10:15 p.m.

Officers responded to the reported accident in the 3200 block of Vickers Road. They found a 57-year-old man "inside of a car disoriented and bleeding from the head." He was rushed a nearby hospital, where doctors determined he had been shot.

"The vehicle that the victim was in, apparently struck a parked car before coming to a stop in the block," a police spokesman said in a statement.

Details on other weekend shootings:

Continue reading "Man found injured in car accident had been shot " »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

A 24-year-old woman who was found shot in the head and body behind an apartment building in Northwest Baltimore died of her injuries, becoming the city’s latest homicide victim, police said this morning.

Police officers responded shortly before 9 p.m. to the 4500 block of Westchester Road, in Windsor Mills, and found the victim lying on the grass. The apartment building is located between West Forest Park Avenue and Windsor Mill Road, near Leakin Park.

A police spokeswoman said the woman, whose identity was not immediately released, had been shot in the head and body. She was taken to Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:37 p.m. Police said they had no susects and knew of no motive.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

[UPDATE: County police say three people - two male teens and a female - were shot in the incident in Turners Station]

Police say a shooting in Turners Station touched off a chase that led through Baltimore and ended when the suspect vehicle crashed into a city police officer's cruiser in Northwest Baltimroe.

Details about the shooting were not immediately clear, but at least two people were struck, according to reports. At about 8:30 p.m., I started getting Twitter messages from people who reported seeing a large number of police cars flying through Southeast Baltimore. It's fairly typical for me to get a message or two like that in a given night, but they kept coming in, and from all over the city - Fells Point, downtown, Northwest Baltimore.

Police say the chase ended in a collision at Northern Parkway and Reisterstown Road. A city police officer was injured and taken to Maryland Shock Trauma with non-life-threatening injuries. Amid that chase, authorities were also responding to the shooting of a female in the 4500 block of Westchester Road north of Leakin Park, and two fires in Northwest Baltimore. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore
        

Baltimore police officers quickly arrested two men suspected of holding up a bank in a Giant Supermarket in Northwest Baltimore. The robbery occurred Tuesday about about 11 a.m. when two men approached the teller at a PNC Bank inthe 6600 block of Reisterstown Road.

Police said that at least one of the men displayed a handgun and demanded that the teller give them money. After getting un undermined amount of money police said they ran out of the supermarket.

Officers from the Northwest District located two men matching the description of the suspects. One suspect was caught in the 4000 block of Boarman Avenue\, the other hiding under a porch near the supermarket.

Both suspects are being charged with robbery, assault, and theft. They are identified as Torre Johnson, 34 (left) and Otis Nelson, 46. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police on Saturday closed part of Patapsco Valley State Park as they launched a new, intensive search for a teenage girl who went missing in December and whose disappearance has baffled detectives who have worked for months without finding any clues.

Authorities cautioned that they do not have any specific tips as to the whereabouts of Phylicia Barnes that led them to this sprawling, 16,000-acre park located in both Howard and Baltimore counties north of Ellicott City.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said only that their “investigation led them to the park,” a woodland and nature preserve that includes 32 miles of river and 170 miles of trails, attracting hikers, fishermen, nature enthusiasts and picnickers.

While a task force of six homicide detectives continues to work the case exclusively, Saturday’s search is the biggest public show of force since January, when police searched a well in a shed behind a Southwest Baltimore apartment building.

Continue reading "Police begin search for missing teen in Patapsco State Park " »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Confronting crime, Howard County, Northwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: One of the men injured in the Mulberry St. shooting has died, police say. He was identified as Roosevelt Tillman, and court records show he was from the 1500 block of W. Fayette St, where another shooting occurred about 20 minutes later. It was not clear if there was a connection.

Baltimore police are reporting one person dead and six others in injured in a series of shootings scattered across the city. All occurred within one hour early Tuesday.

The Sun's Yeganeh June Torbai reports that the sudden outbreak in violence occurred mostly in Northwest, West and Southwest Baltimore.

Here are some details:

Continue reading "Spate of city shootings leaves one dead, six injured" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Baltimore police have arrested a 47-year-old woman and charged her with robbing a Wachovia Bank branch in Northwest Baltimore on Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred about 4 p.m. in the bank in the 5700 block of Reisterstown Road.

Police said the woman handed a teller a note demanding money and then left. Police found the suspect four blocks away in the 5300 block of Reisterstown Road.

 Linda Leak-Parker, whose address was not given, has been charged in the robbery.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

[This post has been updated]

A seventh man was convicted in Baltimore Circuit Court Friday in what police and prosecutors say was a gang-related killing of a man who was beaten, wrapped in a blanket, stabbed and set on fire for failing to carry out a task.

With his trial about to begin – in which several co-defendants were expected to testify – 25-year-old Anthony Williams entered an Alford plea, maintaining his innocence but acknowledging prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him in the murder of Petro Taylor in December 2008.

“The evidence the state would present was very strong, and he was afraid the jury would believe the witnesses,” said his defense attorney, Nicole Egerton.

Police say that members and associates of the “Bounty Hunters,” a so-called enforcement arm of the Bloods gang, met for a party at the Red Carpet Inn on Reisterstown Road. There, Taylor was attacked and tossed into the trunk of a vehicle, believed to be dead.

The suspects drove to Leakin Park to dispose of the body, but realized he was still alive and stabbed him three dozen times before dousing him in gasoline and setting his body ablaze, sources told The Sun at the time.

Continue reading "Alleged "Bounty Hunter" gang member takes plea" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Gangs, Northwest Baltimore
        

Just hours after Baltimore's police commissioner decried the violence that consumed the city this weekend, and announced new patrols to combat it, four more people were shot Monday night. None of the wounds proved fatal, but it appeared that two days of gunfire did not end with the beginning of the work week.

The shootings were scattered around Baltimore -- Northwest, Northeast and Southeast -- and police said none appeared connected. Earlier Monday, Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III met with reporters to once again complain about the proliferation of guns and how easy it seems to be caught with one and escape serious jail time.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore
        

Continue reading "Victim confronts murderer, rapist: "I'm not scared of you"" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

The near decapitations of three young children in a Northwest Baltimore rowhouse six years ago stunned the city, and it took two long, painful trials to bring the men responsible to justice. Policarpio Espinosa Perez and Adan Canela are each serving life sentences for killing their three young relatives.

At issue is whether the convicted killers should get a third trial because the judge who presided over their second trial in Baltimore Circuit Court failed to disclose questions from the jury, asked during the trial, to the defense attorneys.

Those defense lawyers argued before the Maryland Court of Appeals on Tuesday that they would've changed trial strategy had they seen the notes. An assistant attorney general argued that  defense lawyers have not shown what new strategies they would've employed.

More details:

Continue reading "Judges hear challenge to convictions in triple murder " »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

Court documents show a 30-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder in a weekend stabbing that killed a 17-year-old who police say was defending his sister.

Terrance Sims (above right), of the 200 block of N. Bethel St., was arrested Monday and ordered held without bond at a bail review hearing Tuesday. Police said Monday night that they had no record of the arrest, but it was confirmed through court records. confirmed the arrest this afternoon. Court records show Sims was charged in 2000 with fatally shooting a man at a West Baltimore club, and pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter - receiving five years in prison.

Continue reading "Court records show 30-year-old charged in teen's stabbing" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

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Every month since her brother was shot and killed by police last year, Priscilla Johnson has gone back to the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood where he died to hand out fliers, begging for anyone who saw something to come forward.

What his family knows, gleaned largely from media reports, is that Dennis Gregory was a bystander who was shot by detectives who were aiming for his friend Glenn Brooks. And they know from the autopsy that Gregory was hit four times in the back.

What they didn’t know is that Gregory was acting as a confidential informant that night and that it was his call to police to report that Brooks had a handgun that summoned them to the scene in the first place . The revelation is contained for the first time in court documents filed in federal court late last month and obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

Continue reading "Sun exclusive: Man killed by police was informant" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings
        

UPDATE: Court records indicate a 30-year-old man has been charged in the killing and was being held without bond, but police said they could not confirm that information.

Police said the 17-year-old who was fatally stabbed early Sunday morning in Northwest Baltimore was intervening in a dispute between his sister and a man.

The victim was identified as Ronald T. Gibbs, a boxer who reached the quarterfinals in the 2010 National PAL Championship in San Antonio and had Olympic aspirations. Marvin McDowell, president of the state’s amateur boxing association, said Gibbs, known as “Rock,” was at one point was ranked in the top 10 in the country.

“It’s a life wasted,” McDowell said. “The boy was so talented. He had a future, and just like that, his life is over. It’s senseless.”

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said at a Monday morning briefing that Gibbs' 20-year-old sister was arguing with a man and Gibbs came outside after hearing a commotion. Both of them were stabbed by the man, who fled.

Guglielmi said police were “optimistic” on some leads in the investigation, but no arrest had been made and he could not confirm a motive.

Gibbs attended Carver Vocational Technical High School and was in the Class of 2011, according to his Facebook page.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

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Police say a 17-year-old boy was killed in a double-stabbing in Northwest Baltimore early Sunday morning. His identity was not immediately released. Police spokesman Jeremy Silbert said the 17-year-old and a 20-year-old woman are believed to have been in the 5000 block of Nelson Ave., a residential area not far from a commercial strip along Belvedere Ave, at about 2:30 a.m. when they got into a dispute with an unknown man who stabbed them and fled. The teen was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries. Detectives were investigating and asked anyone with information to call 410-396-2100.

The killing marks the second slaying of a juvenile in Baltimore this year, the other a New Year's Day shooting in East Baltimore that killed 16-year-old Marquise Hall.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Joel Kurz is a pastor who arrived in Baltimore a couple of years ago promoting a church called Garden Community, part of a push into urban areas by the southern Baptists. His blog posting last week accusing city cops of harassing him caught our eye.

Lots of people file lots of complaints against police, and it's never easy to decide which ones to write about. Kurz (at left, in a 2009 picture by The Sun's Gene Sweeney Jr.) got some attention because he's a pastor, had been profiled in a front page Baltimore Sun article in 2009 and has no criminal record.

He's out in bad neighborhoods nearly every day, and he encounters police. He says that he knows he'll be questioned but typically he's not bothered. On Feb. 15, he said cops twice harassed and threatened him with arrest after he got pulled over for not wearing his seat belt on Park Heights Avenue.

A ticket, maybe. A full-scale search of the car coupled with what he said were threats and a full-scale, profanity laced tirade. Police aren't talking, as is customary, but did confirm the matter is being investigated.

He describes the encounter after the stop:

By this time another cop has arrived and is instructed to “watch me.”  A minute later I’m asked to step out and walk to the back of the vehicle where the officer asks if I have anything illegal, “drugs, weapons, guns, AK47s.” Of course I say no, at which point he demands that I do not lie to him and just tell him “now” what I have in my possession. I’m instructed to put my hands on my head as he spreads my feet and frisks me, hands in my pockets and everything. When I tell them what I do for a living, another cop barks, “I’ve personally arrested a ton of pastors.”

Continue reading "Pastor alleges police misconduct" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northwest Baltimore
        

Life as a transgender woman wasn’t easy for Anthony Trent. Known as “Tyra,” the 25-year-old told family she would sometimes be attacked on the street just because of the way she looked.

“He was a very bold person – he wasn’t scared to show or flaunt his lifestyle,” said cousin and close friend Correll Trent, 18. “People told him all the time, if this is the way you want to live, we can’t stop you. But be careful, watch yourself.”

Recently, she had been jumped on the street and beaten up, losing a tooth in the attack.

“He came home and cried that day,” Correll said.

On Saturday, someone wandering into a vacant, city-owned home in the 3300 block of Virginia Ave. in Northwest Baltimore found Trent’s body in the basement. She had no identification and no cell phone, but an autopsy had shown that she had been asphyxiated. City homicide detectives are investigating the case.

It took two days to confirm Trent’s identity and notify family. Trent had been reported missing two weeks earlier, after leaving late at night on a Sunday and never returning. Trent had been known to leave for a few days at a time, but always kept in touch with her mother, Sundra. Not this time.

“Sundra felt it. After two days she said, ‘Something happened to my baby,’” said family friend Pamela Holden.

Relatives were gathered at the Trent family home Tuesday night, where they remembered Trent as a vibrant person who liked to dance, loved animals and loved to style hair. She worked with people with disabilities, they said.

“He was a good person, and he made friends,” said aunt Evelina “Noni” Trent, 41.

She also worked the streets, often spending time at an area of the city known as “The Stroll” where transgender prostitutes are known to frequent. Court records show dozens of arrests for loitering and prostitution between 2003 and 2008. In one, she climbed into the car of an undercover detective and asked if he wanted to party, then discussed oral sex, according to records.

Trent hadn’t been arrested since 2008, however, and it is unknown what circumstances led up to her death.

Sandy Rawls, director of Trans-United, which provides outreach for members of the transgender community, said she had been working with Trent, who was in the process of formally changing her name and wanted to obtain a GED.

“We had been trying to get her off the street for some time, but there's really nowhere to put transgender individuals who are homeless,” Rawls said. “Every time we go somewhere, we're ostracized out of that place, and they end up getting into dangerous situations.”

However, family said Trent lived with her mother and always had a place to stay.

Correll Trent said family feared for her safety. “Most city guys, guys who grow up in Baltimore, they don’t like that,” he said, referring to a transgender lifestyle. “He was so upset and hurt that people can’t accept his lifestyle. It made me angry.”

Outside the home, Trent’s mother sat in an idling car, a young child strapped in the backseat. She waved over a reporter, who she mistook for a detective. She said she couldn’t stay for an interview.

“I need closure,” she said, pulling away to visit the crime scene.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Click here for more on this case, including an interview with relatives and a picture from the crime scene.

City police say a 25-year-old transgender woman was found dead in a vacant building in Central Park Heights over the weekend, a death which the medical examiner's office said was caused by asphyxiation.

Word of the death came via a gruesome discovery by a man searching for his dog on Saturday afternoon, police say. He thought he heard barking coming from the basement of a vacant home in the 3300 block of Virginia Ave, and discovered a man's body inside. He called 911 and homicide detectives responded.

Police say the victim was Anthony Juan Trent, a 25-year-old from the 4100 block of Woodhaven Road. Court records show Trent had a lengthy history of prostitution arrests between 2003 and 2008, though none since late 2008.

Police said they did not have a motive or any suspects.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are asking for hep finding Tyrone Dukes, who walked away about 3 p.m. Saturday from an assisted living facility in 3700 block of Belle Ave. Police say he is "metnally challanged and 'child-like.' He does know his name, but does not know his phone number or address.

Police describe him as standing 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 224 pounds. He has salt and pepper hair and was last seen wearing a blue ski coat with a hood, plaid shirt  and blue jeans.

If located, please contact the Missing Persons Unit at 443-984-7385 or dial 911.
 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

It was a police chase done by the book -- by helicopter, not car -- and it unfolded on live television, breaking moments after WJZ-TV went on the air at 5 p.m. Tuesday. We now have video of the flight officer, Matthew W. Hart, and his observer, Gerald C. Siedlarczyk, talking about how they helped catch two carjacking suspects from the air.

City police are generally forbidden from high-speed pursuits, mostly because of the dangers posed by a crowded, urban environment. Police like to use the helicopter, Foxtrot, to keep track of fleeing suspects and then maneuver patrol cars to box in the vehicles.

That's what happened in this case, after a state office worker was carjacked near a state health building on Patterson Avenue while walking to her silver 2001 Acura Legend. One suspect shouted "Don't scream," according to a police report, and snatched her car keys from her hand. The victim ran back to her office as the suspects drove off in the car.

The suspects have been identified as Desmond McCoy,  24, and Frank Richardson, 28. They've been charged with robbery, carjacking, assault, reckless endangerment, motor vehicle theft and theft over $500. See the video:

Continue reading "Baltimore officers describe helicopter chase" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Two members of a Jewish citizens' patrol group from Northwest Baltimore were in court today to answer charges that they beat a teenager and told the black youth he didn't belong in the neighborhood. The case has inflamed tensions and sparked a protest today, the video of which can be watched here.

The Baltimore Sun's Nick Madigan wrote:

Avi and Eliyahu Werdesheim, brothers and former members of a Northwest Baltimore patrol group called Shomrim, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to beating a black teenager last fall as he walked through their neighborhood.

Outside the courthouse downtown, two groups of demonstrators — one composed of Jews, the other of African-Americans — loudly stated their positions on the case, the former in support of the duo, the latter against what they said was an act of racism.

Avi Werdesheim, 20, and his brother, Eliyahu Werdesheim, 23, are charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon in the Nov. 19 incident, and face a maximum sentence of 10 years if convicted. Both are scheduled for trial on May 2 in Baltimore Circuit Court.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

A state worker was carjacked in Northwest Baltimore earlier today, sparking a pursuit using a police helicopter that ended with the arrests of two suspects.

The pursuit went from Baltimore and into the county and then back to Baltimore, and part of it was captured by a news crew for WJZ-TV, which broadcast it live during its 5 p.m. newscast. Here is The Sun's news story and the video from WJZ:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

The stabbing was reported at about 10:45 a.m. at the intersection of Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak, in the Howard Park neighborhood, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman. He said two men got into an argument with another man, who produced an undetermined sharp object and stabbed them.

[Click photo for full size image]

At the scene, a trail of blood was visible from a gas pump to in front of the gas station. A crime scene technician flagged items of interest and took pictures as detectives huddled behind the gas station.

The victims were taken to a local hospital where one of them was suffering from life-threatening injuries, police said. Homicide detectives were notified and were investigating, police said.

Police were looking for a black male with dreadlocks, and were reviewing surveillance camera footage.

The incident was initially reported by the Police Department as having occurred at the intersection of Liberty Heights and Reisterstown Road.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

A man was shot and killed Tuesday evening in a drive-by shooting in Northeast Baltimore:

The 21-year-old victim was waiting at a bus stop with a woman on the 6600 block of Alta Ave. near the intersection with Northern Parkway, police said, when a four-door, light-colored vehicle approached and someone inside began firing a gun. Police were called to the scene about 6:30 p.m. and found the man lying in the street. The woman was uninjured.

Meanwhile, city police reported an arrest in another Northeast Baltimore shooting that occurred Monday afternoon. The shooting occurred about 3:15 p.m. in the 2700 block of Polk St., in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood.

Also, Baltimore police over the past two days seized several guns from city streets, part of the commissioner's bad guys with guns campaign:

* A search of a house in the 3100 block of N. Woodington Road turned up a 9mm handgun and led to four arrests by the Southwestern District's drug squad.

* A search warrant served in the 3100 block of Belmont Ave. resulted in the seizure of a 12-gauge shotgun and one arrest by the Violent Crime Impact Division in the Western District.

* Police in the 700 block of Linnard St. in Southwest Baltimore arrested two people and seized a 9mm handgun.

* Another search warrant led police with the Gun Trace Task Force to the 3400 block of Callaway ave., where they seized a 12-gauge pistol-gripped shotgun.

* Police in Northwest Baltimore found four illegal long guns in a house in the 8500 block of Main Ave.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Even as the trial of the twin teens charged with setting the dog Phoenix on fire moves forward, police announce the arrests of two more teens who they say doused a cat Mittens with lighter fluid and set it ablaze.

These twin cases of animal cruelty are just the latest in Baltimore, and demonstrate another side to the city's violence. The Phoenix (seen at left) case in West Baltimore broke in 2009, and it has lurched forward under pressure from the public and City Hall.

And testimony coming out of Baltimore Circuit Court is not that encouraging. The Sun's Tricia Bishop has written about questionable police actions that have prompted defense attorneys to accuse the cops of negligence.

The officer who was hailed as a hero for putting the fire out had a rough day in court last week. Tricia Bishop wrote that Detective Syreeta Teel "left the sweater, which might have provided traces of accelerant, on the sidewalk." Also, testimony revealed that the scene was never secured, the police crime lab was never called and a treating veterinarian was never interviewed in the arson investigation.

Then, on Tuesday, defense attorneys questioned the motives of a key witness who said she saw the defendants -- Travers and Tremayne Johnson -- running away from the scene. The witness, who is jailed on an unrelated charged, said she came forward for the reward money -- $28,000 put up by hundreds of outraged citizens.

Tricia provided this time-line, taken from video surveillance:

Continue reading "Two animal cruelty cases move forward" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

For Baltimore police, the search for missing Phylicia Barnes has becomes as agonizing as it is futile. Lead after lead has evaporated, tips have gone nowhere and not a single person has reporting seeing her since she disappeared Dec. 28.

I sat down with the squad of homicide detectives who have done nothing but search for the North Carolina teenager for the past several weeks. Few times do you hear police say they have no clues, no leads, nothing in a case.

The picture by TShe Sun's Kenneth K. Lam shows Baltimore Police Department's homicide commander Maj. Terrence McLarney (from left) and homicide detectives Sgt. William P. Simmons, Daniel T. Nicholson, James Lloyd, Robert Burns and John Riddick.

Listen to the lead investigator, shown below in a picture by Lam:

"This is a young girl who was well-liked in high school," said Detective Daniel T. Nicholson IV of the homicide unit, the lead investigator. "She was doing what any young person would do, visiting her family … and she vanished from the face of the earth. That's hard to believe."

Nicholson, a 17-year police veteran with two daughters of his own, said the case is "frustrating in that we've run out every lead, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it might seem."

The detective said he's in daily contact with Phylicia's father, who travels between Baltimore and his home in Atlanta, and with her mother in Monroe, N.C. His biggest fear, he says, is that "it's not going to be a happy ending."

Here are more stories on the missing girl and a detailed update of her final day.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The high school in Monroe, N.C., where 17-year-old Phylicia Barnes was senior, announced a reward of $25,000 for information leading to her recovery. The honor student disappeared Dec. 28 while visiting relatives in Northwest Baltimore.

The search has become one of the Baltimore Police Department's biggest missing persons cases, at one point involving half the agency's homicide squad. The FBI in Baltimore and Washington are still involved.

Here are some past news stories on Barnes, and the following is information from Barnes' school, Union Academy, in North Carolina:

"In November of this past year at the Annual Ultimate Charity Auction hosted by the Union Academy Foundation a fund was created to help students at Union Academy in financial need. This fund was named the Phil Hargett Memorial Fund in memory of the late City of Monroe Councilman, grandfather of Union Academy students and community leader. Over $25,000.00 was raised the night of the auction for this fund.

Since that time as you all know, Phylicia Barnes, a beautiful, loving and gifted student of Union Academy has disappeared while in Baltimore Md. during the Christmas Holidays. We continue to have faith that Phylicia is out there somewhere.

Continue reading "Reward up to $25,000 in finding missing teen" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

Thursday's snowstorm that created havoc on area roadways and forced people to abandon their cars on the JFX also caused at least two deaths -- an elderly man hit by a snowplow in Anne Arundel County and a taxi driver trapped in a burning car.

Police said the taxi driver apparently got stuck in the snow about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at Grenada and Norfolk avenues in Northwest Baltimore. His car caught fire and police said the man could not get out. He died in the car.

In Anne Arundel County, police said a 77-year-old man walking on Mountain Road was hit and killed by a snowplow. It occurred about 2:30 this morning and police said the plow driver didn't stop.

The accident is under investigation.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police just announced an arrest of a car jacking suspect:

"On January 25, 2011, Northwest District officers were flagged down by an individual who stated he was just car-jacked. Immediately, officers began a search of the area for the victims vehicle.

Officers located the Honda mini-van a short time later. The suspect was subsequently arrested after attempting to elude officers on foot.

Along with the victims vehicle, additional property taken during the incident was recovered as well.

The suspect has been identified as Dion Williams, DOB: 1/14/75.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

SNOWWWWWWWWWW! !

That's stating the obvious, I know, but it comes via Twitter, courtesy of the Baltimore Fire Department firefighters union #734. It's my way of passing along the latest public safety news!

Not to be outdone, Baltimore police put this up on Twitter: "DRIVING ADVISORY: Winter weather conditions are making area roads very slick. Please drive with care and consider staying home."

Of course, the rank and file firefighters and paramedics would be remiss if they didn't also remind you, again via Twitter, that the city continues to close fire companies to save money. So along with storm news, you get this:

Units closed to save money today are Engine 5 & Engine 8. Engine 43 is closed for maintenance. Use caution walking & driving in winter weather.

Engine 8 operates from a firehouse in the 1500 block of West LaFayette Avenue. The house also has a truck and a medic which are operational Engine 5 is out of the Roman Kaminski station in the 2100 block of Eastern Ave.

But enough politics. The last Twitter from Baltimore police was last night, with a man shot in the back in the 800 block of Lennox St. No word yet on his condition. Meanwhile, Liz F. Kay is reporting that the snow you see this morning is "just a teaser" of what we'll see later today and tonight.

Check out the rest of The Baltimore Sun for more snow news, including accidents and road conditions, and closing information. Or better yet, head to Frank Roylance's Maryland Weather blog, Let's see if the adage prove true -- more snow equals less crime.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Breaking news, Carroll County, Downtown, East Baltimore, Howard County, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

At the Northwest District's monthly community relations meeting Tuesday night, community leaders wanted to talk about drug dealers congregating outside of vacant buildings, juvenile curfew issues, and how they can educate residents to cut down on the volume of calls police field in a given day.

The assault case against two members of a Jewish patrol group in the area wasn't on the agenda.

The incident has been explosive fodder on talk radio and Internet forums, and drew a small group of protesters Monday to the downtown courthouse to criticize police and new State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein for their handling of the investigation.

Maj. Johnny Delgado told residents Tuesday night that those speaking out "have no stake or interest in our community and how we do business here" and urged residents to continue working together.

“I’ve never seen any of these people at our meetings – they don’t understand the partnerships in our community,"Delgado said. We had an incident, but we’ve been moving forward and working to solve crime issues together.”

Others said the incident has indeed reopened deep divisions in the community.

“It’s opened a can of worms that’s always been there, and I venture to say will always be there until people can talk honestly about their differences,” said Klondike Potts, president of the Garrison Hill Community Association, who said the incident conjures up racial profiling."We've all had things like that happen to us in our lives."

Her group's treasurer, Debbie Hines, nodded in agreement. "She said it all," Hines said.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

If the city's most outspoken activists gave Gregg Bernstein a honeymoon period after being sworn in earlier this month as Baltimore's new top prosecutor, it appears to be over.

Two groups of loosely-affiliated community organizations and special interests protested on opposite sides of the Mitchell Courthouse downtown on Monday, accusing Bernstein of being tight-lipped on a racially-charged assault case and criticizing his "unholy" alliance with the Police Department.

On the west side, protesters formed a picket line, invoking the shooting of Officer William H. Torbit Jr. and carrying signs with such incendiary slogans as "Arrogant Racist State's Attorney."

On the east side, people who said they represent black media and civil rights groups called on Bernstein to say more about his office's decision to drop felony assault charges against a member of a Jewish community patrol group.

"'No comment' will not suffice in the African American community," said Hassan Giordano, a blogger, talk show host and campaign consultant.

Bernstein, who defeated 15-year incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy in last year's Democratic primary election, had been supported by Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who said a better relationship with prosecutors would help keep violent repeat offenders off the street.

Two high-profile and controversial cases are testing his public mettle early.  Read more here.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: City Hall, Courts and the justice system, Downtown, Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings, Top brass
        

A second suspect has been charged in an alleged attack on a teen in Northwest Baltimore last year, and prosecutors say he is the brother of the first suspect. Both appear to be members of the volunteer community patrol group Shomrim, and the charges against Avi Werdesheim come a day after prosecutors dropped felony assault charges against the first suspect, Eli Werdesheim.

The incident rekindled tensions in the city's black and Jewish communities in Northwest Baltimore. The teen who was assaulted was black; as a Shomrim member, Werdesheim and others patrol the community and have been praised with improving public safety. But the Shomrim members have been accused of taking that too far, breaking the teen's wrist and shouting that he "didn't belong" in the neighborhood.

Critics had questioned why, given the accusation that three men were involved in the alleged assault, that police had only charged one person. In a statement, prosecutors say the charges grew out of a continuing investigation by prosecutors and police. Both suspects will have an arraignment on Feb. 16.

Continue reading "Brother charged in NW Baltimore attack" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A hours-long search behind an apartment complex in Southwest Baltimore Thursday night came up empty in the hunt for Phylicia Barnes. It's not clear what drew police to a backyard shed, but they pumped water from a well and found nothing inside.

Police described the search as one of many they've done since Barnes, 17, disappeared Dec. 28 from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment. Police have searched the homes of people who had access to the apartment and questioned more than a dozen men, but have reported not a single lead in the case.

On Thursday, authorities were at a property off the 400 block of North Bend Road, near Edmonson Avenue close to the Baltimore County line.  The photo at left by The Sun's Gene Sweeney Jr. shows the search.

Continue reading "Search for missing teen comes up empty" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today ran a long story on the missing teenager from Baltimore. Phylicia Barnes disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28 while visiting from North Carolina. She has family ties to Atlanta.

Police continue to say they're stymied by the case and believe that she met with foul play. Authorities have put her face on highway billboards, pleaded for national media attention and at one point assigned half the homicide unit to the case.

Here's some parts of the Journal-Constitution story:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore Sun's Liz Kay reports:

A Baltimore prosecutor has dismissed a felony assault charge against a member of a Jewish neighborhood watch group who was accused of striking a black teenager in November.

After appearing at a preliminary hearing Thursday morning in district court, Eliyahu Eliezer Werdesheim, 23, still faces misdemeanor charges. But the state's attorney's office did not pursue the most serious charge against the community college student, who is also a former Israeli special-forces soldier.

Werdesheim no longer participates in Shomrim, whose Orthodox Jewish members patrol Northwest Baltimore, said his attorney Andrew I. Alperstein.

More background from Liz's story:

Continue reading "Felony charges dropped against Jewish patrol group member" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The mother of missing Phylicia Barnes is criticizing the response since the initial call for help to police in Baltimore.

Janice Sallis told CNN said pleas for help during the first 48 hours of the case were ignored, though she wouldn't say who was to blame. She made the remarks during an interview with the network news program, which were also reported in a story in the girl's hometown newspaper, the Charlotte Observer.

The mother has been outspoken since Phylicia disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 28, last seen by her sister's boyfriend. She apparently had left to get something to eat. The honors student was visiting Baltimore and hoped to attend Towson University after graduating early from high school.

The case has frustrated Baltimore police, which maintains a hot-line and at one point had half the homicide unit investigating. There hasn't been a single sighting or useful tip in the case, leading police to believe she was abducted and taken out of state.

Efforts by the city police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, to take the case national at first went nowhere, prompting him to complain of a double-standard for network news shows dealing with missing children. Since then, several national news shows have devoted space to Phylicia's case.

Continue reading "Mother of missing girl criticizes response" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Today is Phylicia Barnes's 17th birthday.

If she's still alive.

It's also the 15th day she's been missing

The teen disappeared Dec. 28 and up until an outbreak of violence in the past week, finding her was the Baltimore Police Department's top priority. The agency assigned half the homicide squad and appealed to people across the nation.

Now, even as officers grieve the loss of one of their own, the department sent out a reminder today that Phylicia still remains a priority, even if hopes of finding her are dimming. She was visiting her sister at a Northwest Baltimore apartment when she left to find lunch, and has not been heard from since.

Not a trace.

Family, friends and concerned citizens launched a search on Saturday, the last time this case attracted attention. Baltimore police are reminding people to call a hot line if they see her or have information: 1-855-223-0033.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Police found two men dead of gunshot wounds to the head Sunday night at a residence in the 1700 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway.

About 11:23 p.m., police and medical crews responded to the site, in the Parkview/Woodbrook neighborhood a couple blocks from Druid Hill Park. An officer found two men lying face down in the apartment's laundry room, police said. The men had both been shot in the head, and medical crews pronounced the men dead at the scene.

Police had no information on the men's names or ages, or a suspect or motive.

Police also identified the man found shot to death in a vehicle near Union Memorial Hospital in Oakenshawe as Leon Donte Smith, 34. Police did not have a last known address but in November he was charged with drug possession and listed an address in the 5500 block of Bowleys Lane in Northeast Baltimore. 

Officials did not give a motive or additional information in Smith's death. Court records show he had a minor criminal record, consisting largely of open container and drug possession charges. No other information was immediately available.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police wanting national attention to help locate missing 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes got some help this morning from NBC's Today show (watch segment here). A reporter came to Baltimore and did a two-minute segment that reached viewers across the nation.

"This is Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told viewers. "This is a young woman who came to Baltimore and just disappeared."

The spokesman has for days trying to attract media from outside Baltimore and Phylicia's hometown in North Carolina to cover the case. In a Sun story published today, Guglielmi recounts his efforts to spread the word. CNN's Nancy Grace and CBS Early Morning fell through (police said producers never called back), but NBC did to a piece.

Police here are concerned because after 10 days of searching, detectives haven't come up with a single sighting for clue. They believe Phylicia has been the victim of foul play and may even have been abducted, hence their push to get her picture shown outside of Maryland.

Baltimore officials have expressed concerns that the national media is ignoring Phylicia Barnes because she disappeared in a violent city and is black. Nancy Grace did do a show on a missing teen Thursday night -- a white cheerleader from Texas.

But I'm told ABC News is headed to Baltimore to report on the case, and might at least touch on the disparity issue.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police say they're being flooded with reports that Phylicia Barnes has been found. Calls are coming from the media -- and I've gotten some e-mails and blog postings saying the same thing. Police said a reporter from Atlanta just called to confirm.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told me just a few minutes ago that the 16-year-old, missing since Dec. 28 when she left her Northwest Baltimore apartment, remains missing. He said there are no new updates to the intense investigation.

To calm rumors, Guglielmi just issued a statement on Twitter:

MISSING PERSON UPDATE: Please not that Phylicia Barnes has NOT been found. We would tweet such an occurrence immediately."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi was complaining that he couldn't get national media attention to help locate missing 16-yeear-old Phylicia Barnes, who may have been abducted and taken out of state.

But Thursday afternoon, he suddently got hit with requests for the CBS Early Show, NBC's Today and CNN's Nancy Grace, who makes a living hyping missing children stories. I tuned in to the show a few minutes ago but saw only coverage of a missing 13-year-old cheerleader from Texas, and an interview with her distraught mom who for some reason was admitting to have failed a police-administered lie-detector test.

In speaking with The Sun, Guglielmi had expressed concern of a double-standard -- that Phylicia wasn't getting national attention because she went missing in Baltimore. He noted that she could've been abducted, that police believe she's a victim of foul play, that she's an honor student and track star who was going to graduate early and go to college at Towson University.

Continue reading "News shows bail on missing city teen story" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Usually, for Baltimore police, no news is good news.

Not this time.

The cops want as much attention as possible to help find missing Phylicia Barnes, the 16-year-old girl who disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives fear she either dead in Baltimore or has been abducted and is somewhere far away.

Guglielmi has been chasing national television producers for days to get them to do a story and put Phylicia's picture on the air. If she has been abducted, the cops want people in Kansas and California to see her picture.

But until today, only CNN Headline news and Good Morning America had paid any attention. And Good Morning America used canned quotes from the family and file footage of the police helicopter.

But after I started working a story and called several TV networks, city cops got booked on CNN's Nancy Grace, the CBS Early Show and NBC's Today. Nancy Grace plans to air a segment tonight; the other two shows Friday morning (Here's a link to Nancy Grace, where her blog features a report on a missing white 13-year-old cheerleader from Texas)

Cops won't say publicly what they're saying privately -- that they feel Phylicia is not getting national media attention because she's black, went missing in a crime-ridden city and isn't from the suburbs.

Publicly, the police spokesman Guglielmi says:

“I don’t know why this case is any different that the Natalee Holloway case,” said Guglielmi, referring to the young, wealthy white woman who went missing while vacationing in the Caribbean in 2005 and continues to be a staple of cable news programs.

“The only exception is that Phylicia was in Baltimore and she’s from North Carolina,” Guglielmi said. “America rallied around Natalee and CNN aired hourly updates. In my case, I’m just asking that [Phylicia’s] picture be put up and it be noted that she’s missing and in danger.

“I know there are things happening around the nation,” the police spokesman said. “But I think the disappearance of a 16-year-old is more important than birds falling out of the sky or dead fish in the harbor. Somebody’s life is in peril here.”

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

Baltimore police on Wednesday scoured the apartment complex where 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes was last seen on Dec. 28. She has disappeared without a trace, and city detectives are devoting a massive amount of resources to find her.

On Tuesday, they searched Leakin Park, based on a tip left on a story on the Baltimore Sun's web site, which turned out be less a tip than a suggestion, and today they used cadets and two dozen detectives to hand out fliers in hopes somebody will come forward with information.

Read more information on the search.

In the picture, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi (far left), Maj. Terrence McLarney, head of the homicide unit (center), and Sgt. William Simmons, whose squad is leading the investigation, talk to the media. The photo was taken by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum.

It's the lack of evidence that has police so worried. She disappeared at 1:30 in the afternoon, last seen at her sister's apartment on Eberle Drive. The honor student hasn't used her debit card, her cell phone is off and she hasn't updated her Facebook page.

Police say they suspect foul play but have no evidence other than the unusual length of time she's been missing to support that theory. They've interviewed a dozen people who had access to the apartment while she was visiting there from North Carolina and have turned up no clues. No one has come forward to say they saw her.

Continue reading "Baltimore police pour more resources into finding missing teen" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

It was simply put one of the most disastrous gaffs in public relations I've ever witnessed.

An angry woman in a bright red blazer who identified herself as the manager of the Reisterstown Road Shopping Center ran out to complain about unauthorized filming and gathering on the far reaches of a parking lot closest to Home Depot.

She interrupted a news conference by Baltimore police who are desperately trying to find missing Phylicia Simone Barnes, a 16-year-old girl who disappeared from her sister's apartment within sight of the lot.

"You can't film here," she shouted at the police, seen above during the event in the photo by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum. Pictured is Sgt. William Simmons, foreground left, and Detective Robert Burns of homicide unit.

It wasn't just a news conference. Dozens of detectives and a busload of cadets had gathered there with top police commanders and turned it into a makeshift command center to distribute fliers to help in the search.

The woman remained unmoved.

"You are being very discourteous and rude," she told one cop.

She then did something I'll never believe.

Continue reading "PR blunder of the decade" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The mother of 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes, who has been missing since Dec. 28, told a North Carolina newspaper that the Northwest Baltimore apartment her daughter was staying at had been visited by at least 20 men over Christmas.

Phylicia Barnes, who lives in Monroe, N.C., had been staying with her older sister, Deena Barnes, and wanted to move here to attend Towson University after graduating early from high school. Police have described the apartment on Eberle Drive, near the Reiserstown Road Shopping Center, as a flop-house for college students.

Baltimore police searched the first-floor apartment Tuesday night but said they hadn't found any evidence that would help them located Barnes. Authorities have said they suspect foul play and that Barnes has not been seen or heard from since she disappeared in the early afternoon seeking food. Police also said they have questioned nearly everyone who had been in the apartment with the missing girl, but plan to re-interview all of them.

Police today were meeting with the FBI but as of noon had reported no new leads. This is from a  Charlotte Observer story published today:

Janice Sallis, Phylicia's mother, said Tuesday that Deena Barnes told her at least 20 men had visited the apartment over the Christmas holidays, while Phylicia was visiting.

Sallis said she was upset to have learned of the activity that she says took place while her daughter was at the apartment.

"Deena Barnes misled me," Sallis said. "I'm a very protective mother. She assured me it would be just she and Phylicia.

"But when I went up there Thursday night, I found out otherwise. She gave me the names of 20 different guys who had gone in and out of the apartment."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The written word, whether it is in traditional print or on a computer screen, remains powerful.

And nothing could prove that more than what happened on Tuesday in the frantic search for the missing 16-year-old girl, Phylicia Simone Barns (at left), who disappeared without a trace from a Northwest Baltimore apartment on Dec. 28.

A comment posted on the bottom of a Baltimore Sun story read: "Humor me, somebody pop over to the 4000 block of Franklintown Road and look at the Southwest shoulder."

Cops, hunting down any and every clue, took immediate interest. Was this simply an obvious reference to Leakin Park being a notorious and popular dumping ground for bodies, or did this poster know something specific?

Hard to tell. The version that appears in public identifies the author only by a screen name, Cham101. Police sought more information on the poster from the newspaper, but as that was being worked out, police mobilized more than 100 police officers to search the area. An entire cadet class. More than 20 homicide detectives. A dive team. A helicopter. Officers from the Maryland Natural Resources police. Nine cadaver dogs.

They searched a section of the isolated park all day, giving up only after the poster had been tracked down, by this newspaper's chief police reporter, Justin Fenton. He reported back:

Continue reading "Internet tip leads police astray in search for teen" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northwest Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

Baltimore police have scaled back -- and are close to ending -- their search of Leakin Park along Franklintown Road for the missing 16-year-old teen. Phylicia Barnes disappeared from a Northwest Baltimore apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 28.

The search was based on a comment posted to a story on the case that appeared on the Baltimore Sun's web site. The comment suggested looking on the shoulder of the 4000 block of Franklintown Road. It was unclear to investigators whether the poster actually knew something or was merely suggesting that Leakin Park is a prime spot for dumping bodies.

The comment was posted by a Sun reader and frequent commenter, who uses the screen name Cham101. In early November she had posted a research project on her blog that attempted to map all the bodies found in Leakin Park over the years. You can check it out here.

Police, noting the comment's specificity, sent nearly 100 officers, including 50 cadets from a training class, a dive team, a helicopter and nine cadaver dogs. After nearly eight hours, police shut down the search.

Still, police called in help from an elite FBI team and have assigned 25 homicide detectives to the case. Barnes disappeared without a trace, hasn't used her debit card, hasn't contacted friends or family and her cell phone is off.

Police say they suspect foul play.

Here are more more details on Barnes and her disappearance.

Watch a video of police updating the investigation.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

An elite FBI team set up to find missing and exploited children has joined Baltimore police in the search for a missing teenager who disappeared from Northwest Baltimore last month, according to authorities involved in the investigation.

Anthony Guglielmi, a city police spokesman, said the Crimes Against Children unit is focusing on technical aspects of the case, such as examining evidence. He cautioned that there are no specific leads in the case and that police still fear that 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes is a victim of foul play.

Richard J. Wolfe, a spokesman with the Baltimore FBI field office in Woodlawn, confirmed his agency’s involvement but would not comment further. Baltimore police have detectives assigned to the FBI unit and they are helping with the case.

City police have scheduled a media briefing for 2 p.m. to update the public on the search, which is being led by homicide detectives. Police have said Barnes might have been abducted and could be out of the state.

Relatives of Barnes, who is from North Carolina and was visiting her sister at a Northwest Baltimore apartment, have scoured the city with fliers in a desperate search. The youth was last seen Dec. 28 about 1:30 p.m., leaving her sister’s apartment near the Reisterstown Road Metro station. Barnes had told her sister she was going shopping.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

More questions are being raised about a member of a Jewish crime patrol group charged with assaulting a teenager in Northwest Baltimore.

A lawyer for Eliyahu Eliezer Werdesheim, who says he's a former member of the Israeli special forces, said in court on Monday that the youth wasn't injured in the way police had described. Authorities said the youth had broken his wrist during the altercation; the lawyer described the injury as a "boxer's fracture," associated with punching a hard object.

The prosecutor wouldn't comment and the attorney was careful to avoid saying precisely how the youth was injured. But it raised questions during Monday's bail hearing about how the altercation took place.

Police said in charging documents that Werdesheim struck the youth and told him, "You don't belong around here." The youth is black, and the incident sparked anger in the predominantly African-American Park Heights community and raised tensions with Orthodox Jews.

Monday's bail hearing centered around whether Werdesheim could leave the country to visit Israel while his charges are pending. A Baltimore judge allowed the trip over the objections of the prosecutor, who said in court he feared an extradition battle. The suspect's relatives pledged to put up $50,000 if Werdesheim doesn't return. He holds a round-trip ticket.

For more stories:

Community meeting on Shomrim group.

Black leaders call on patrol group to be disbanded.

Member of patrol group accused of striking teen.

Ride-along with Shomrim patrol group.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are growing increasingly worried that 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes, who disappeared from her sister's Northwest Baltimore apartment, will not be found alive. She was visiting Baltimore from North Carolina and planned to go to Towson University.

She was last seen last Tuesday.

Her family has flown into Baltimore and held a vigil and have hit the streets chasing rumors in what has been a fruitless search. Baltimore homicide detectives are involved, and city police have gone on national television pleading for help.

Read full story here.

See a police description here.

Barnes was last seen after leaving her sister's apartment on Eberle Drive near the Reisterstown Road Metro station. She had gone shopping, but her family said she did not know the area well. Police said she was last seen with her sister's boyfriend, though they tell me he has been interviewed three times by detectives and is not a suspect.

Barnes is a stand-out, straight-A student who enjoyed theater and was to graduate early from high school. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Baltimore police told us a few minutes ago that the person shot has been declared brain dead. Additional details are below.

A man described as being in his late teens or early 20s brandished a handgun inside Judy's Island Grill & Bake Shop. The retired officer, who was eating inside, confronted and then shot the gunman.

Police released no other information Wednesday night, but we're expecting an update later this morning.

The Baltimore Sun reviewed the restaurant in 2007, which offered curried shrimp, oxtail stew and jerk fish. The reviewer seemed to like the offerings of Jamaican and Caribbean fare.

NEW INFORMATION:

Det. Kevin Brown, a city police spokesman, said the retired officer is 63 years old. He had been walking out of the carry-out when he encountered man about 25 years old who tried to rob the restaurant.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings
        

Issac Joyner's Christmas presents are tucked away in a closet in his aunt's house: shirts, sweaters, a new camera. His aunt had planned to buy the 14-year-old a pair of new shoes on Christmas Eve. Instead, she spent the day comforting relatives and planning for his funeral after his fatal shooting Thursday night, the Sun's Julie Scharper reports

"His Christmas gifts are all here," said the aunt, Michelle Joyner. "And he's not here to open them."

Meanwhile, the violence didn't stop for the holiday elsewhere in the city. Two people were reported stabbed in West Baltimore and a man was shot in the 1500 block of N. Caroline St. on Christmas Eve, police reported on their Twitter page. In the early morning, men were found shot in the 4400 block of Granada Ave and 1900 Greenmount Ave. Homicide detectives were investigating at least one of the incidents.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Baltimore, North Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

I saw Carlos Woods two years ago inside his rowhouse on Chapel Street in East Baltimore. He was sitting in a wheelchair a few days before Christmas opening a a gift -- a Superman sketchbook.

The time I saw him before that he was on a stretcher being rushed to an ambulance amid a frenzied and angry crowd. A cop screamed for people to get out of the way, "so we can get this baby out of here!"

Carlos was hit in the head by a stray bullet in April 2001, when he was just 2 years old, while retrieving a juice bottle from his doorway. Somehow he survived, though he suffers from symptoms similar to cerebral palsy. His smile will break your heart.

I went back to see Carlos today as she joined classmates at the Mondawmin Mall. I'll have more details on the visit in Thursday's Crime Scenes. It was a touching moment for Carlos and everyone else. Teachers and staff at the William S. Baer School took 188 students to the mall, a tremendous undertaking given that most are in wheelchairs and about have require feeding tubes to eat.

Above are pictures of Carlos with volunteer Rob Paymer and meeting Santa (Luke Durant) at Mondawmin.

Here is perhaps the saddest thing I learned when visiting Carlos at his home in December 2008:\

The man who shot Carlos, Kenneth A. Kelley, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced to 11 years in prison, with time starting when he was first incarcerated April 27, 2001. State prison officials said he was released Aug. 27, having served a little more than seven years, and is on probation. He now lives two blocks from Woods.

Continue reading "Young shooting victim goes shopping" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

A drug raid on a house in Northwest Baltimore uncovered something more -- a suspected dog fighting operation. In addition to arrests, police said they seized six pit bulls from the dwelling near Druid Hill Park and are investigating further.

The dogs ranged in age from a three-month-old puppy to an elderly dog. The raid was done on a house in the 2300 block of Edgemont Ave. in the Parkview/Woodbrook neighborhood Friday evening.

A police spokesman said that all dogs had bite wounds and several had severe scarring. The dogs appeared emaciated, and their bones could be seen clearly through their coats, police said.

On Sunday, police released a report on the drug operation. The raid occurred about 5 p.m. When officers yelled "Police, search warrant," the report says that no one responded. A tactical officer used a battering ram to knock down the front door.

At least one man was arrested running out the back and police went into the front, and the report says that one man thew an air fresh canister out of a second floor bathroom window. The canister contained three bags of suspected cocaine, police said.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

The interim president of the local NAACP chapter says he sees no reason for a Jewish citizens' patrol group from Northwest Baltimore to be disbanded in the wake of allegations that a member was arrested for assaulting a black teenager.

Ellis Staten, the civil rights organization's first vice president and interim president, told The Sun's Erica L. Green that he has "seen no evidence that this group has been out seeking young, black men."

"Our position is that we would like for all of us to work with the Jewish community to come to a peaceful resolution, rather than this community against the community," Staten said.

His comments are notably more tempered than those from others who are speaking out about the issue, including the NAACP's past president Marvin "Doc" Cheatham. The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance called the patrol group a "violent, fringe" organization and called for it to be suspended. One of the first to speak out was the Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon, who was disqualified from the NAACP presidency over membership requirements. Witherspoon has said that similar situations have caused riots in other areas and that leaders need to sit down and talk. Brown, (Edit: Brown says he did not attend) Witherspoon and others met privately on Saturday, which media were alerted to but prohibited from attending.

A community meeting involving black and Jewish leaders is planned for Wednesday, and Staten said he is not sure if the NAACP will participate.

For a feature story about Shomrim written last year, click here. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

All in all, the weekend in Baltimore appeared relatively quiet, with a few shootings and at least one homicide:

* On Sunday, a 25-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot in the head outside the 4400 block of Belvieu Avenue in Northwest Baltimore. The Sun's Justin Fenton notes on his Twitter page that this is the same block in which a man was fatally stabbed on Thanksgiving.

* Also on Sunday, city police were investigating a shooting that left a 31-year-old man wounded at Linwood and Orleans streets in East Baltimore.

* A 26-year-old man shot in the chest late Friday night in the 1900 block of E. 30th St. in East Baltimore died a few minutes later at good Samaritan Hospital.

In Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County, police were investigating a shooting outside a bar. The Sun's Larry Carson wrote:

Anne Arundel County police are searching for a man who used a rifle to shoot 30-year-old Kelly Terrell Fisher early Saturday outside Dietrich's Tavern in Glen Burnie. Police said the suspect got out of a vehicle and began shooting at Fisher, of Gatewood Court in Glen Burnie, at about 12:13 a.m. Hit multiple times in the torso, he was rushed to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center, where he later died. Police believe the two may have been acquainted.

On Sunday, police announced an arrest:

During their investigation, Homicide Unit detectives were able to identify the shooter in this incident as 33 year-old Clayton Avila Battle of 8005 Nolpark Court in Glen Burnie.  On December 4, 2010 detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest and at approximately 11:30 p.m. officers observed and stopped a vehicle on I-97 at I-695 in Glen Burnie in which Battle was traveling.  He was found to be a passenger in the car and was arrested without incident. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

When Oscar Cobbs began putting together a plan for a community-wide citizens patrol in his Park Heights community, the 64-year-old retiree looked to his neighbors north of Northern Parkway. 

Cobbs has been working with members of the Northwest Citizens Patrol, picking their brains in hopes of duplicating their efforts in his mostly black neighborhood as part of his work on the public safety committee of the Park Heights Renaissance effort.

"It's not that the Jewish community does not have incidents, but they are so on top of it that they really are far and few between, and that's the way we want to have it down here," he said.

The Northwest Citizens Patrol has been around for nearly 30 years and though similar, it is separate from a citizens patrol group called Shomrim that has come under fire this week after one of its members was arrested and charged by police with assaulting a teenager. Black leaders have spoken out, calling Shomrim a "fringe" group and demanding that they suspend operations.

From Cobbs' perspective, both groups are working to make their communities safer, have a good track record and have strong support from entrenched institutions and neighborhood organizations - which he would like to recreate in his area.

"One of the things that impressed me most was the fact that their dedication and their leadership was all members of the community," Cobbs said. "They have really excited their membership to be involved in this and to make sure it works. We can show you small victories [in Park Heights], but its not communitywide, and that's what we need to do."

He said calls to break up Shomrim were misguided. "We would never want the final call to be, 'We don't want you in our community,' when you're trying to do something positive. That's not the way to handle something," Cobbs said. "You sit down at the table and reason out those things that might be a problem or center of contention and resolve them."

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A copy of the initial police incident report in the assault of a teenager in Northwest Baltimore is providing some new details, including that another Shomrim member arrived at the scene before police and administered medical aid to the injured boy and helped police identify the suspects' vehicle.

The new information comes as black leaders are calling for the group to be disbanded.

The boy, a student at nearby Northwestern High School, was walking about 12:45 p.m. when a car pulled up alongside him. When he asked why he was being followed, the driver of the vehicle, who police say was Eliyahu Werdesheim, reportedly said, "You're the guy from yesterday on Park Heights, you want some problems?"

The report says the boy picked up a stick to defend himself when two men got out of the car.

Continue reading "Another Shomrim member aided injured teen, police" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance just sent out a message condemning the alleged assault: "Wanton violence is unacceptable and we welcome the opportunity to meet with youth and all concerned community groups.  We will not stand by and allow our children to be victimized by over zealous violent fringe groups such as Shomrim."

The Baltimore Jewish Council and representatives from the black community are planning to meet next week to discuss the arrest of a member of an Orthodox Jewish citizens patrol group, who police say assaulted a teenager and told him, "You don't belong here." 

Some are calling for Shomrim, the patrol group, to suspend its operations while they investigate claims against the member, Eliyahu Werdesheim, seen in the middle at right in a picture used in promotional materials for his security company. Arthur Abramson, executive director of the Jewish Council, has questioned why only Werdesheim has been charged by police and suspended by Shomrim given the allegations that two other patrol members were allegedly involved in the assault. 

"I am strongly urging you to intervene and urge this private, unregulated, non-governmental organization to cease, and assist its activities [sic] pending a full and thorough investigation into the matter, and a dialogue between leaders of the African American and Jewish communities," wrote Rev. Cortly "C.D." Witherspoon Sr., an organizer with the Southern Christian Leadership Council of Baltimore, in a letter to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Werdesheim's attorney told The Sun that his client was observing the 15-year-old, who was in a residential neighborhood near Northwestern  High School at 12:45 p.m. on Oct. 19, when the boy became angry and attacked him with a stick (He told ABC that the weapon was a two-by-four with nails in it). It was the boy who called police, and detectives investigated for days before bringing charges. Werdesheim was given an opportunity to turn himself in, but did not and was picked up by the warrant apprehension task force.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

There are some potentially explosive charges coming out of Northwest Baltimore: a member of an Orthodox Jewish civilian patrol group called Shomrim has been charged with hitting a 15-year-old and telling him: "You don't belong here."

Eliyahu Eliezer Werdesheim, a former Israeli special forces soldier, has been charged with first and second degree assault. His lawyer said Werdesheim was defending himself from an attack; police say the youth's wrist was broken.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Sun's Justin Fenton that police continue to work with the neighborhood group but "will not tolerate vigilantism from any organization." (A video of Shomrim can be found here)

The teenager is black, and the incident -- particularly the comments police attribute to the suspect -- could heighten tensions in the Park Heights area. African-American residents have felt for years that some of the Jewish police groups patrol their own neighborhoods but don't look out for the community overall.

Arthur C. Abramson, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, said he would demand that the incident be fully investigated to satisfy concerns. "It's vital for the sake of the community that both groups get along well, and for the most part they do," Abramson said. "Obviously, this incident, no matter who is right or wrong, exacerbates tensions, and we're not going to tolerate any cover-up."

Back in the 1990s, another Jewish patrol group, Northwest Citizen's Patrol, got into trouble for being partnered with a city police officer while forbidding women to join their group. The organization relented and also expanded their reach deeper into the Park Heights community.

The citizen's patrol group was instrumental in fighting to retain a Jewish police major to run the Northwestern District and protested when the commissioner at the time replaced him with a black commander. Those tensions have eased in recent years.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northwest Baltimore
        

A 68-year-old Baltimore man was in custody Friday, accused of killing his brother in a Thanksgiving Day argument.

Harry Patterson Jr., who turns 69 on Saturday, has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, two assault counts and a weapons charge following the stabbing death of his younger sibling, Robin Patterson, 51.

Police said the incident occurred Thursday on the 4400 block of Belvieu Ave. and stemmed from an argument between the suspect and his wife. After Robin Patterson tried to intervene, his brother left the room and retrieved a kitchen knife, stabbing his younger brother in the back and left arm.

He left the residence, and was later picked up after his description was broadcast and an officer saw him on the street. 

Court records indicate Robin Patterson had no history with the law, and Harry Patterson's last brush was in 1984 when he was convicted of theft and got a two year suspended sentence.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A city corrections officer was killed early Tuesday in East Baltimore, and the investigation into her death led to an hours long standoff in Northwest Baltimore that police believed was a barricade situation.

Sharon Jones, 28, was fatally shot in the upper body at about 3:40 a.m. while at a friend's house in the 1700 block of Aisquith St. in East Baltimore. Police later visited her home in the Cylburn neighborhood, where they found blood on the door and believed a man was inside. He wasn't, and police were searching for a "person of interest."

Jones was one of two three people killed over the weekend in Baltimore, including a 19-year-old man named Carlton Sellman who was shot in the stomach about 5 p.m. Saturday on Route 40 near Swann Avenue, near the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Police also identified a man killed in a triple shooting on Poplar Grove St. as 29-year-old Jerry Thomas.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Baltimore's mayor has unveiled a new plan to more quickly deal with the thousands of vacant houses that pockmark the city's landscape, such as at left in this picture by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum shortly after a fire ravaged a string of vacants in West Baltimore. The houses not only spread blight, but attract crime, and as we recently saw in West Baltimore, can feed the flames of fire consuming entire city blocks.

The Sun's Julie Scharper wrote:

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she would accelerate redevelopment of Baltimore's more than 30,000 vacant properties by cutting bureaucracy and speeding the sales of city-owned properties.

"Vacant houses are more than just an eyesore," Rawlings-Blake said at a Wednesday morning news conference. "Just ask someone who lives next door to one."

Vacant properties constitute one of the city's most pernicious problems, depressing home values and blighting the landscape. Officials have counted 16,000 unoccupied buildings, which harbor vagrants, attract vermin and pose fire hazards. The city owns 10,000 of the vacant properties, on 4,000 of which sit empty structures.

Last month, The Sun's Jessica Anderson brought us to Calhoun Street, where two simultaneous four-alarm arson fires on Sept. 8 destroyed two sides of a city block and taxed the Baltimore Fire Department to the point it needed unprecedented help from neighboring counties. Fire trucks from as far away as Washington responded.

The mayor's plan was already in the words when the fires broke out, but they served as yet another reminder of one of Baltimore's most persistent urban ills, and one that stands out to anyone who drives through these areas.

Here are the mayor's prepared remarks on her plan for vacant houses:

Continue reading "New plan to combat city vacants" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: City Hall, Confronting crime, Downtown, East Baltimore, Neighborhoods, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

City police say a 16-year-old who was fatally shot last week in Northwest Baltimore had been reported missing by his mother two weeks earlier.

The boy, identified Tuesday as Alan Chavis, was found fatally shot in the 4000 block of Barrington Rd. in the Arlington neighborhood on Oct. 26. An anonymous caller reported to police at 2:20 a.m. that the Pimlico teen was lying in the street bleeding.

Another teen, 18-year-old Ronald Clark, was fatally shot two blocks away later in the day in what police described as a drive-by shooting.

Police located Chavis’ mother, who said she had not seen him since reporting him missing on Oct. 14. The boy had recently been arrested on drug charges, and have not said whether his death and the shooting of Clark were linked.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

A man shot in the Mondawmin area of Northwest Baltimore is in critical condition this morning -- the latest in a spate of violence that left five people dead in less than 24 hours Monday and Tuesday.

The Sun's Yeganeh June Torbati reports this morning that the 24-year-old was shot in the 2000 block of North Bentalou Street Tuesday night.

Justin Fenton, The Sun's police reporter, has a story today documenting the violence, which includes a 16-year-old boy and a 63-year-old school bus driver who was shot while heading off to work in West Baltimore.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

It's easy to mourn the innocents.

We cry for the church caretaker killed for his scooter, for the young man fatally stabbed as he walks home from a bus stop chatting on his cell phone with his mother, for the young girl caught it the cross-fire of a someone else's dispute.

We cry for the off-duty police officer killed during an argument over a parking space.

Senseless killings over trivial matters.

It's harder when the victim has a troubled past or was engaged in less-than noble endeavors. Louis Scott was one such young man. His mother contacted me last week to report on a vigil for her son, who was shot outside her house near Druid Hill Park. The victim had been convicted of drug possession and not convicted of twice trying to kill to people and sell drugs (photo is from a vigil held Saturday in the 2700 block of Parkwood Ave. It was taken by Monica Lopossay).

He was shot while talking to a woman near his car; his mother believes the girl knows the shooter and won't tell thepolice. She's angry that the detectives keep delving into her son's past -- he's innocent, she says, and they're being diverted from hunting the real killer and from pursing the real motive.

With so many killings, is this a victim we want to write about? It's not an easy subject, and I tried to explore that in Sunday's Crime Beat column. In retrospect, I'm not sure I succeeded (I urge you to read it before commenting; I can't get into all of the nuances and details here). The point is Scott's life -- the good parts and the bad -- are too complicated to be boiled down into an easy-to-understand cliche:

I struggled with this column. I'm not sure if Scott is young man killed while struggling to overcome the thuggish street life or if he's simply a victim of immature choices. As I said earlier, sympathy is hard to come by in a city where murder overwhelms.

But his is yet another life snuffed out by a bullet. Scott's story, like so many others, is complex and nuanced and thus tough to categorize. I could've easily glanced at his record, passed on the story and spared my readers from what I know seems to many like wasted words over a wasted life.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Northwest Baltimore
        

In addition to the Baltimore police officer who was killed Saturday night in an argument over a parking space in Canton, three other people were fatally wounded in the city this weekend. More details on the violence can be found here.

The Baltimore Police Department released some information on two of those shootings. Det. Kevin Brown sent this update: 

Non-Fatal Shooting
10/17/10 - 15:08 Hrs
2300 Blk of Orem Ave
 
Officers respond to an area hospital for a walk-in shooting victim.  Victim, a male black, born in Jan, 1966, was shot multiple times and advised it occurred as he left a corner store.  At present no suspects or motives.  Victim was in serious but stable condition at last check.  
 
Non-Fatal Shooting
10/17/10 - 16:58 Hrs
5400 Blk of Nelson Ave
 
Officers responded to the an area hospital for a walk-in shooting victim.  The victim, a male black born in August, 1983, sustained a gunshot wound to the torso and advised it occurred at Nelson and Rogers Ave.  At present, no suspects or motives.  Victim was critical but stable at last condition check.

Police also sent out some update stats on shootings and homicides:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Confronting crime, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore
        

City police have charged a 20-year-old Baltimore man in the death of a six-month-old, police said tonight. On Oct. 13, officers responded to the 3800 block of Glengyle Ave. in the Falstaff neighborhood after the child's father, Timothy Darnell Lewis, called for a non-breathing child. The child was transported to Sinai and was pronounce dead just before midnight. Lewis initially said he had simply found the child, but later admitted that he had choked the child after becoming frustrated with incessant crying.

Lewis, of the 3800 block of Glengyle Ave., was charged today and ordered held without bond. Court records show that he did not have a prior record.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore
        

For those of you trying to keep track, here's a list of violence in Baltimore that started Friday afternoon and went through Monday morning. A full account of the mayhem can be found here. There have now been 171 slayings in the city this year, compared with 176 at this time last year:

Friday, 2:30 p.m.: Sterling Palmer, 78, found fatally stabbed inside his house in the 2600 block of Edison Highway.

Saturday, 12:01 a.m.: Man, 51, found fatally shot in the stomach in the 3100 block of Grantley Ave.

Saturday, 2:19 a.m.: A 42-year-old man reported being shot in the ankle while being robbed in the 300 block of N. High St. at Old Town Mall. He walked into the Central District police station on East Baltimore Street to report his wounds.

Saturday, 8:15 p.m.: Daryll Hood, 22, fatally shot in the head one block from his home in the 4700 block of Shamrock Ave. in Belair-Edison.

Saturday, 8:53 p.m.: Travis Lane, 19, found with bullet wounds to the side and chest in an alley off the 3500 block of N. Calvert St. in Oakenshawe. Police say this shooting is related to the shooting 20 minutes earlier in Belair-Edison. Lane was pronounced dead at Union Memorial Hospital.

Sunday, 1:42 a.m.: Dennis Waddell, 33, fatally shot in the 1600 block of Warwick Ave. in Coppin Heights. A 28-year-old was shot and wounded in same incident.

Sunday, 4:47 p.m.: Police find a man in his early 50s dead inside a vacant rowhouse in the 800 block N. Fremont Ave. in Harlem Park. A cause of death has not yet been determined.

Sunday, 6 p.m.: A 35-year-old man was stabbed in the 3800 block of Rogers Ave. in Pimlico. Police said he had been mowing his lawn at his house when a man got out of a car and stabbed him in the chest, arm and back. He was being treated at an area hospital.

Sunday, 9 p.m.: A man shot in the ankle in the 3300 block of Ingleside Ave.

Monday, 9:25 a.m.: An adult male is shot in the head and killed in back of rowhouses in the 2600 block of Shirley Ave. in Park Heights.

Source: Baltimore Police Department

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, East Baltimore, Neighborhoods, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

Six shooting this weekend left five people dead and three more injured.

Friday, just before midnight: 46-year-old man fatally shot inside a house in the 3000 block of Pressbury St.

Saturday, 12:01 a.m. A 51-year-old man fatally shot in the stomach in the 3100 block of Grantley Ave.

Saturday, early morning: A 33-year-old man was shot and killed on Warwick Avenue in Coppin Heights. A 28-year-old man was shot and injured in the same incident.

Saturday morning: A 42-year-old man said he had been robbed and shot at Old Town Mall. He walked into the Central District police station and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Saturday, 8:15 p.m.: 22-year-old man fatally shot in the head in the 4700 block of Shamrock Ave. in Belair-Edison.

Saturday,  8:53 p.m.: man fatally shot in an alley in the 3500 block of N. Calvert St. in Oakenshawe. Police say this shooting might be related to the one on Shamrock.

Sunday, 9:30 p.m.: man shot in the ankle in the 3300 block of Ingleside Ave. 

On Sunday evening, Baltimore police said a man was stabbed on Rogers Avenue and that he was being treated at a hospital. And Sunday morning in Anne Arundel County, a man was reported shot and wounded in Severn.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Neighborhoods, North Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore, South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

At the crime scene in Northwest Baltimore, there was the victim, the gun, and the discarded shirts.

Richard Lawson could not identify his attacker; in his last moments on Dec. 14, 2007, the 24-year-old  told the first responding police officer that he had been robbed and shot in the chest by an unknown man, according to court records. That was the best Lawson could do before he was rushed to Sinai Hospital.

The gun, a revolver, sat in the threshold of the doorway, ditched by the shooter.

Then there were the shirts – a white t-shirt, a dark thermal long-sleeve shirt, and a dark-hooded sweatshirt. They were layered and inside-out, the white t-shirt over the other two, as if they had been taken off all at once, and they were spattered with blood.

Lawson would be pronounced dead within an hour of the shooting, and for more than two years the case went unsolved.

But on March 23, records show, police received notification from the state DNA database that they had matched genetic material from the inside neckline of the black thermal shirt to a 24-year-old man named Vincent Clark (pictured at right).

Continue reading "Man linked to 2007 murder through DNA, police say" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Northwest Baltimore
        

Two men were shot in Baltimore over night, one fatally.

A 55-year-old man died from wounds he received in a shooting on Bowley's Lane in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. The shooting occurred about 8:40 p.m.

About 10:45 p.m., another man was shot on Boarman Avenue in Northwest Baltimore. He walked to a hospital on his own with a gunshot wound to his back.

No arrests have been made.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Northeast Baltimore, Northwest Baltimore
        

[Here's the link to the full story, which appears in Thursday's paper]

City police have disbanded the plainclothes unit that investigates drugs in Northwest Baltimore amid allegations of misconduct against at least three officers in two different units, the department confirmed.

Six officers who comprise the Northwest District drug unit were sent back to patrol amid the suspension of the unit’s supervisor and one officer, who are accused of using a stolen license plate on an unmarked vehicle, said Anthony Guglielmi, the department’s chief spokesman.

Separately, an officer assigned to the elite Violent Crimes Impact Section (VCIS) was suspended last week after being targeted in an internal affairs “integrity sting,” which is typically used to catch officers pocketing drugs or money.

Guglielmi confirmed that the officer was suspended and that police were conferring with the state’s attorney’s office on charges, but would not comment further. Sources identified the officer as Kody Taylor, a three-year veteran, and said he is accused of pocketing money planted on an undercover officer.

“These are internal personnel matters being investigated by internal affairs,” Guglielmi said. “We’re going to determine if there’s any criminal component to this, and if there is, we’ll work with the state’s attorney’s office’s police misconduct unit.”

The breaking up of the Northwest drug unit comes amid a slew of shootings in the district, which includes the Arlington, Park Heights, and Reisterstown Station neighborhoods. Six people were shot in the district between Friday morning and Sunday night.

More in tomorrow's paper and online.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Breaking news, Northwest Baltimore