A 29-year-old man was fatally shot Wednesday night in Southwest Baltimore's Carrollton Ridge neighborhood, police said.

At the scene, in the 500 block of S. Bentalou St., police lit up the street to search for clues as residents congregated behind police tape. Police said a man dressed in black "attacked" victim Kenneth Davis, of the nearby 2200 block of Wilkens Ave. and shot him in the head and back. He was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

Police did not provide a motive. Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

ALERT: Baltimore police said the victim has died .... A city police officer shot and wounded a man this morning who officials said was brandishing two knives on Edmondson Avenue. As is typical at such scenes, police had a wide area blocked off with crime scene tape, and about the only view was of officers milling about and the flashing lights atop cruisers.

Read full story here.

But just as police spokesman Det. Kevin Brown was about to address the television cameras, several young men and women standing at a nearby corner tried to shout him down. "They was wrong," one young man said of the officer who fired.

One woman wanted to know why the officer didn't user her Taser. Another shouted cover-up, pointing to how far back the public was kept from the scene. Brown took the bait. "How many people did we shoot this year?" he asked.

"Twenty-five, thirty," one answered.

"How many times have your own people shot your own people?" Brown asked, "You're worried about this? Really?" He pointed out that we were near a shooting earlier this year in which six people were wounded, and few if any witnesses stepped forward, or voiced outrage at the violence.

One man said the officer "just pulled up and didn't know what was going on" before she fired her weapon.

Another police spokesman, Det. Donny Moses, pleaded with the onlookers to step forward if they actually witnessed the shooting. "Please, we have detectives who want to talk to you," he said, walking over to the group. "If you saw it, help us out."

But pressed by a reporter and police, the man and others said they had not seen the actual shooting. As for the actual numbers of police-involved shootings, our numbers differ from city police, who count incidents.

According to city police, there have been three police involved shootings that resulted in fatalities and six in which people were wounded. Our numbers, which include how many individual victims were were at each scene, show five fatalities and eight wounded. That includes January's shooting outside Select Lounge in which officers accidentally shot and killed an undercover officer, who had just fatally shot a man, and wounded three bystanders.

There have been 182 homicides so far this year in Baltimore.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Police shootings, Southwest Baltimore
        

City police say they have made an arrest in the killing last week of a 53-year-old man, and officials also identified an 18-year-old man who was fatally shot in Southwest Baltimore.

Leroy Smith, 21, of the 1200 block of W. Mosher St., has been charged in the fatal stabbing of 53-year-old Eddie Nance, who was killed early Friday in the 600 block of George St., police said.

Nance was drinking with two friends in an apartment when two people, who were known to them, came over, police said. An argument over drugs broke out, which escalated to a fight, police said. One of the men began choking Nance, and the other went into the kitchen and retrieved a knife. Nance was stabbed in the chest. 

The stabbing occurred in the Heritage Crossing development, a neighborhood of green lawns and tidy brick homes that took the place of the notorious Murphy Homes towers. 

Smith was picked up Oct. 29 and is being held without bond. His prior record consists of several pending drug cases and an assault conspiracy charge for which he was sentenced to five years in prison with four years and six months suspended. 

Police also identified the 18-year-old shot Thursday night in the 1300 block of Braddish Ave. as Shyekee Wilson, of the 1900 block of Walbrook Ave. Wilson was found at 10:10 p.m. suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to the head, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting occurred several blocks south of Coppin State University. Police said the case remains open and a motive was not clear.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

No crime -- at least not yet -- but I just got back from the devastating fire that damaged a string of rowhouses on South Pulaski Street. Three people died in the blaze -- a pregnant woman and her two young sons.

We don't have too many details as to the cause or the names of the victims, and firefighters still had the street blocked off this morning, preventing homeowners from assessing the damage. Grieving family members gathered around the corner from the fire but didn't want to talk.

I spoke with several neighbors who described the flames jumping from porch to porch as they raced up and down he street to get everyone one. One person ran through a burning porch to rescue an elderly man; another raced back inside his own home to get his newborn.

The picture above was taken by The Sun's Jeffrey F. Bill.

Fire officials say the fire started in a rowhouse at 629 South Pulaski Street and quickly spread. The fire union is already complaining that the closest truck company, located in Pigtown, was shuttered for budget cuts as part of the mayor's rotating firehouse closures. But a union officials told me privately that in this case, it wouldn't have made much of a difference because of the severity of the fire.

Check back to The Baltimore Sun online and in Friday's print editions. Here is the latest update with some quotes from neighbors and the dramatic rescues. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

The attorney for a man charged with driving a car that hit and killed two Baltimore teenagers in June says his client denies being behind the wheel. James Rhodes, the lawyer, said Reuben Dunn's companion has told police a lie.

Dunn (seen in police mugshot) surrendered to police earlier today, indicted on charges that include two counts of auto manslaughter, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving under the influence. Police say he drove through a red light on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, at Pratt Street, and hit Emerald Smith, 17, and her friend, Courtney Angeles, 16, who were in a crosswalk.

Police found the car about 30 minutes later near BWI, but said a woman was driving and told the officer she had been in an accident in the city. Dunn told the officer he had been sleeping. Prosecutors said they believe Dunn switched places with the woman after the accident and before he had been stopped.

But Rhodes said the  case relies only on the woman's changed story. "The police are going to have a big problem" at trial, the attorney told me. The woman, Dunn's former girlfriend and mother of their two children, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. Her attorney would not comment on details of the case. Prosecutors would not comment on Rhodes' allegations.

Read the full story here.

To read the police report:

Continue reading "Attorney says driver charged in fatal hit and run wasn't at wheel" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Courts and the justice system, Southwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE FROM STATE'S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: The suspects were identified as Reuben Dunn, 28, and Kendra Myles, 26. Prosecutors said in a statement Dunn was indicted on two counts of automobile manslaughter, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death and driving under the influence of alcohol. Myles was charged with accessory after the fact.

Two people from Severn have been indicted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard  that killed two teen-aged friends, according to a Baltimore police spokesman.

No other details were immediately available, including the charges filed against the suspects. Police said they have been arrested were having a bail review hearing today.

Courtney Angeles, 16, and Emerald Smith, 17, were hit June 14 while crossing the busy road near Pigtown. They died nine minutes apart at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police said the accident occurred about 11:40 p.m. and that the teens were struck while crossing four southbound lanes of the divided highway. Police also said they were in a crosswalk at West Pratt Street.

Police said that shortly after the crash, an officer with the Maryland Transportation Authority police stopped a car for an unrelated traffic infraction near BWI Airport. The officer noticed damage on the car and detained the occupants, police said.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

This just in from The Sun's Justin Fenton:

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Breaking news, Southwest Baltimore
        

Steps from one of those weathered benches proclaiming Baltimore the "Greatest City in America," a pool of blood marked the spot where a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot last night in Southwest Baltimore.

Detectives at the scene Wednesday morning referred questions to department spokesmen, who said they didn't have any information beyond the fact that Bruce Benn had been shot in the head at 1 a.m. and died two hours later. Residents in the trash-strewn neighborhood lamented the crime, but said they didn't know what had happened. It happened at a bus stop in front of a vacant building, though much of the real estate in this area is abandoned.

School officials say Benn was a student at the Augusta Fells Savage Institute for Visual Arts, a public school located in Harlem Park. Police say Benn's last known address was in North Baltimore.

Twelve juveniles have been killed this year in Baltimore.  The spokesman didn't indicate whether police had a motive or any suspects in Benn's killing.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Invited over to help celebrate his son's first birthday, 25-year-old Hari P. Close III had been a no-show.

But overnight Tuesday, Close crept into the home where his son lived and climbed into bed with the boy's mother, records show. On Wednesday morning, 1-year-old Dalyire Damion McFadden was missing, and he was later found by police wrapped in a deflated air mattress in the basement. He had been stabbed in the neck, police say.

Close, who was an aspiring male model, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in his son's death and was being held without bond. Police say he admitted hiding bloody evidence, which was later found with the murder weapon.

The arrest stunned Close's father, a well-known funeral home director in the city and president of the state morticians' board. He said he never saw any signs that his son was troubled.

"He's been raised in a Christian church, a two-parent home, with great opportunities for education," said Hari P. Close II. "Who really knows their children? All we can do is pray."

Close has no criminal record other than traffic tickets. He attended the Piney Woods School in Mississippi, a boarding school for African-Americans where tuition runs between $7,000 and $15,000 per year. He then went on to attend the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, though his father said he did not graduate.

"My ultimate goal is to make my mark within this modeling industry and become the worlds top super model," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

This post has been updated.

City police say a frantic call by parents for an abduction of their infant son led to the gruesome discovery of the boy's body in the family's Southwest Baltimore home.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the child's parents were in custody and were being questioned.

Guglielmi said police were called to the 2700 block of Riggs Ave., in the Winchester neighborhood. Wednesday morning for an abduction of a 1-year-old. At some point, officers discovered the boy in the basement of the home, suffering from trauma to his body that was initially described as possible stab wounds, police said. The boy was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead. Guglielmi did not have additional details including when police were called to the home or the boy's name. An autopsy was being conducted to confirm the cause of death, he said.

"We're obviously concerned as to how the baby died," Guglielmi said. "The circumstances are unclear and they're being sorted out."

At the residence late Wednesday afternoon, police were still on the scene. A neighbor said she had seen the boy's mother outside the home around 8:30 a.m., and said the woman "zapped out" and became angry when an ambulance, apparently carrying the child, drove by. She said the woman had an older child who had been dropped off at school earlier that morning.

Police crime lab technicians could be seen inside the rear entrance to the home, and they shut the door when a reporter walked through a rear alley. A second floor porch door was propped open with a door, and a child's blanket was draped over the railing.

In the past month, homicide detectives have investigated the deaths of two other infants. Dramiara Johnson, 4, died Aug. 27 from massive head trauma, and her mother was charged in her death. On Sept. 1, Davon Booth Jr., who was 13 months old, died Aug. 8, and the medical examiner later ruled that he suffered head trauma and his death was a homicide. That case remained open, as of the most recent update from police.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

In March, city police appealed for help in the killing of 24-year-old city employee David McClaughlin Jr., who had been fatally stabbed in a gas station parking lot on Edmondson Avenue after being followed home from a Baltimore County bar. They released surveillance footage and arranged interviews with the victim's mother in hopes of finding his killer.

Those efforts may have paid off. On Friday, police quietly arrested and charged a suspect in the case, 28-year-old Terrence Fitzhugh. Court records show Fitzhugh was charged with first and second degree murder on Sept. 3 and was being held without bond pending a bail review hearing.

Police could not provide additional information, but charging documents show that detectives traced the tag number on a vehicle shown in the surveillance video to a man who was later identified as the suspect who picked up the knife and stabbed McClaughlin.

Detectives picked up Fitzhugh on Friday and took him in for questioning. They say he gave a taped statement saying he was attacked by two unknown males at the gas station, one of whom dropped a knife during the altercation, records show. Fitzhugh said he picked up the knife and used it to stab McClaughlin, according to records. 

Here's what police said about the case in March:

Continue reading "Arrest made in March killing of city DPW worker" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Southwest 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
        

Neighborhoods throughout Maryland participated in National Night Out against crime on Tuesday. The Sun's Steve Kilar visited a block party on Edmondson Avenue, in a tiny enclave called Evergreen. It was one of 40 events in the city alone.

At left, Ricky Falcon, holding son Ryan Falcon, 12 months old, makes a bet with flight officer Arnie Russo about whether Falcon can fly the police helicopter during at Helen Mackall Park. The photo was taken by The Sun's Karl Merton Ferron.

Here is part of what Steve found:

Police officers shook hands and answered questions from citizens concerned about the safety of their neighborhood. Three blocks away from the festivities, less than a month ago, a woman and her baby were carjacked and she was forced to jump onto the highway, clutching her child, to escape her abductor. In June, two blocks west, a man was shot dead.

Maj. Robert Booker, who has been in charge of the city's Western District police force for about two years, wants to make a positive impression on children before gang members and drug dealers can turn them against police.

"They put this cloud over the Police Department," said Booker. "Once they start seeing stuff like this, they realize that it's not true, what the drug dealers and the gangs are saying about police."

Booker admits that some kids see drug dealers more often than they see police. He's increased the number of officers on foot patrol in the district, he said, to increase young people's positive associations with the department.

"My son is scared of them," said Keyana Jones, who lives in Park Heights, of her 4-year-old boy. "He's seen a couple of his relatives locked up."

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere, Southwest 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
        

Breaking news from reporter Liz Kay:

Baltimore Police are investigating the fatal shootings of two 15-year-old boys in West Baltimore that investigators believe are related.

Officers responded to the 1100 block of Wedgewood Road in the West Hills neighborhood at 9:12 p.m. for a call of a serious shooting, police said. When they arrived, they found the victim, Dominic Perry.

A medical crew took the boy to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, according to police. Police said an unknown person approached Dominic and fired several shots that struck him, then fled the scene. Investigators have no suspects or motives in the incident.

Then, at 4:30 a.m. another 15-year-old was shot one block away from where Dominic was shot, in the 1100 block of Cooks Lane, according to police. The second teen's name has not been released, and police gave no other details.

NOTE: The 1100 block of Cooks Lane is where police said a man armed with a rifle shot and wounded a city police officer just three weeks ago.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police just put out this alert:

It appears as if the missing juvenile and infant have been located in DC, and are being held by DC Metro PD. Our detectives are en route as I type this to confirm. I will advise immediately upon receiving confirmation. Additionally, preliminary reports are that both individuals are in good health.   

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

At a rally Sunday night for missing 7-month-old Ki'Yauhn Birch, who Baltimore police say wa taken by 16-year-old Jonae Boozer, many complained that authorities did not issue an Amber Alert to help in the search. That would've activated the state-wide Emergency Broadcasting System, interrupted television shows and flashed messages on highway information boards.

It's up to the Maryland State Police to activate the system, they use a strict set of criteria. Among them, they need a description of a vehicle. There is no vehicle description or involved in this particular case. An Amber alert was issued earlier this month when a boy was abducted and forced into the trunk of a car (he was later found safe in an abandoned rowhouse).

Here is a story I wrote last year on how the Amber Alert gets activated:

Continue reading "Why no Amber Alert for missing boy?" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Baltimore police are headed to Washington to investigate a possible sighting of the child. 

From Andrea Siegel:

More than 70 people gathered Sunday evening on an Edmondson Village street corner, rallying for the safe return of an infant who disappeared Friday with the teenager who had been left to watch him briefly.

Pastors and relatives surrounded Whitney McGee, the mother of Ki'Yauhn Birch, as she tearfully pleaded for Jonae Boozer, the 16-year-old last seen with the 7-month-old boy, to surrender the baby.

"Put my baby somewhere safe and call somebody. He's probably hungry," McGee, 20, wept, as she said she was deeply worried about her baby's well-being, especially in the intense heat of the past few days.

"I want my son back. Bring him back, that's all I want — I want my son," she said, later adding, "It's a 7-month-old baby — you got to have some kind of heart."

Baltimore police have put out an urgent request for the public's assistance in locating the baby and Boozer. Police said she might be in Prince George's or Montgomery counties. The baby was last seen with Boozer around 5 p.m. Friday in the 1100 block of Lynhurst St., police said.

Continue reading "Police still searching for missing child" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

The 20-year-old man accused of shooting at Baltimore police officer with a rifle this week had long-term aspirations to shoot someone and remarked that he “felt nothing” after injuring the officer, court records show.

Police arrested and charged Chey Jordan with attempted murder for the Tuesday night shooting, and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said a motive for the attack was unclear. Bealefeld said, however, that in interviews with detectives, Jordan showed a strong disdain for police and had “no love lost for the Baltimore Police Department.”

In charging documents, homicide detective Brian Kershaw wrote that police were contacted by a witness who had been with Jordan the night of the shooting and saw a rifle in the backseat of his vehicle. The witness went into an apartment in the 1100 block of Cooks Lane and heard several gunshots, then saw Jordan disassembling his rifle, records show.

“At that time, Chey Jordan stated, ‘Is it bad that I don’t feel anything?’” Kershaw wrote in charging documents.

Jordan was ordered held without bond at a bail review Friday morning.

Read more here. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Justin Fenton reports:

Baltimore police say a 20-year-old man with a grudge against the department was the gunman who fired a rifle from at a Southwestern District patrol officer on Tuesday night. The officer was spared from serious injury when the bullet grazed him and struck his service weapon.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said detectives received a break in the mysterious case when a community member phoned in a tip Thursday morning that two possible suspects were in a vehicle in the neighborhood.

Chey Jordan, of the 1100 block of Cooks Lane, has been charged with attempted murder. Bealefeld declined to give a specific motive for the shooting, saying officers had conflicting accounts from the suspect.

What was clear, Bealefeld said, is that Jordan had “no love lost for the Baltimore Police Department” and had a “large animus” for city officers. The officer, who was not identified, is a five-year veteran and was hospitalized with graze wounds.

“It’s a miracle that our officer was not more seriously injured,” Bealefeld said.

For more detail:

Continue reading "Man with rifle targeted officer who was wounded Tuesday" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police are questioning a possible suspect in the shooting of a city officer who was wounded while responding to a domestic violence call on Tuesday night, according to a department spokesman.

The spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, released no other immediate details pending formal charges.

The officer, a five-year veteran on the midnight shift in the Southwestern District, was grazed in the hip by a bullet as he stepped out of his patrol car after arriving at a call in the 1100 block of Cooks Lane, just south of Gwynns Falls Park. The shooting occurred about 11:40 p.m.

The officer was treated and released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Detectives are still trying to determine what prompted the shooting; they said earlier they do not believe it was related to the domestic violence call.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Readers of Crime Scenes know that I've gone on a rant in the past few days over how we covered Sunday's killing in Pigtown. People demanded we do more, and complained that we failed to tell the whole story in the shooting's immediate aftermath.

We reported the story out and it appears in today's editions.

Reporters Nick Madigan and Don Markus confirmed what many in the community thought -- the victim was a convicted drug dealer (guilty findings in a drug distribution and a drug possession case), and had been out on bail on another drug case when he was killed.

We also learned much more. That police think Sunday's shooting was related to another killing two weeks earlier, and both stemmed from a year-old dispute. We couldn't learn why prosecutors had dropped so many charges against the victim in years past, but that the current state's attorney had upgraded misdemeanor charges to a felony and had the victim on their rador.

We also heard, by pulling a court file, from the victim's mother, who had written a judge pleading for mercy for her son. At the time, charges were pending in connection with a 2009 police raid on her house in which cops said they found two handguns and drug packaging material.

The victim's lawyer said prosecutors had to drop those charges because the police had only described suspected drug dealing on the street, but could not link it to the home. The mother said the guns were hers -- legally registered in her name -- and not her sons. That's a little more insight into why authorities had a tough time putting the victim away before he became another murder stat and a blemish to Pigtown.

Here are some details from the police raid in 2009, from a police report: 

Continue reading "Pigtown killings spark neighborhood ire" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

A gunman opened fire on a Baltimore police officer as he stepped out of his patrol car at a domestic violence call Tuesday night, grazing his hip, according to a statement from a city Police Department spokesman.

Few details were made available this morning. Police said the shooting occurred about 11:40 p.m. in the 1100 block of Cooks Lane, near the southern edge of Gwynns Falls Park, about a quarter-mile from Security Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue.

The Southwestern District officer, who has been on the force five years, was treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center and was to have been released, according to police. No one is in custody at this time.

Police said in the statement that the officer had responded to a domestic violence call and was “fired upon by an unknown individual” when he got out of his cruiser. It’s not clear whether the shooting was related to the call.

A news conference has been scheduled for noon at city police headquarters.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Jermaine Davis was careful to wear gloves while handling his .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, according to city prosecutors. He is a felon — convicted twice of felony drug charges — and it’s illegal for him to have a gun.

But the precautions that prosecutors say Davis took didn’t matter after he got arrested on Baltimore’s North Curley Street in January. The city State’s Attorney’s Office said they caught Davis on a recorded jailhouse telephone bragging to his girlfriend how he could beat the gun charge.

Shortly after prosecutors disclosed the recording to a judge, 29-year-old Davis pleaded guilty to possession of a gun by a convicted felon. Circuit Judge Steward R. Berger sentenced him to five years in prison.

Police say Davis, who has various addresses in West and Northwest Baltimore, was arrested Jan. 3 by officers who smelled marijuana. The officers then saw Davis put his right hand into his left inside jacket pocket, “revealing the butt of a handgun,” prosecutors said in the statement.

Davis initially pleaded not guilty to the gun charge.

“But during his pre-trial confinement,” the State’s Attorney’s Office said, “Davis betrayed himself by explaining to his girlfriend, during recorded jailhouse phone calls, that he knew his fingerprints were not on the handgun because he had been careful to wear gloves while handling it.”

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Here's charging documents in the arrest of Nathaniel Booker, charged with abduction 8-year-old Darrick Brown Jr. and leaving him in a vacant house in hopes of obtaining a ransom of "more than $500" (A law enforcement source told The Sun this week that the kidnappers requested $30,000). Police were led to Booker after tracing his phone, the records show.

Another suspect, Raheem Taylor, remains at large. The charging document is displayed below.

Continue reading "Charging documents in child abduction arrest" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Reporter Steve Kilar caught up with the woman who spotted the 8-year-old boy was was abducted Monday evening and found this morning in a vacant rowhouse. Police also charged a suspect in the case, and continue to look for his accomplice.

Steve wrote:

A doctor’s appointment brought Helen Jones out of her Allendale house earlier than usual Tuesday morning. While she waited on the porch for her ride, a man came out of a house across the street, got into a green car and drove away.

“Then a little boy came out and looked around,” Jones said. “I said, ‘Wait a minute. I wonder if it was that little boy.’” The little boy Jones wondered about is 8-year-old Darrick Charles Brown, who was abducted while walking with friends Monday night, just a few blocks away from Jones’ house.

A man in the distance scared the little boy back into the house, Jones said, but he came back out a short time later, just after 7 a.m., and began walking toward her.

“When I saw the little boy, and I saw the green car, I said ‘Wait a minute,’” said Jones, who realized that the little boy approaching was the one who had been kidnapped. “Thank God I’d seen the picture on the news.”

The story continues:

Continue reading "Woman recounts finding abducted boy" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police have made an arrest in the abduction of an 8-year-old boy Monday in Southwest Baltimore, charging a 20-year-old with kidnapping, assault, and extortion, among other charges.

Nathaniel Booker (right) was charged after being taken into custody earlier this morning. Police found the boy unharmed in a vacant rowhouse, and said the kidnappers had sought a ransom.  Sources said the abduction stemmed from a drug dispute, with one of the men calling the boy's family to demand drugs and cash.

Detectives are still searching for a second suspect, Raheem Taylor, and ask anyone with information to call 410-396-2100.

Court records show Booker was sentenced to five years in prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to armed robbery in Baltimore Circuit Court. Convicts in violent crime cases typically serve three-fifths of their sentence with good behavior.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police have named a potential suspect in the abduction of 8-year-old Darrick Brown, who was taken from a Southwest Baltimore street Monday evening. Authorities said they are searching for Raheem Taylor, 21. The child remains missing.

No other details have been released, including whether the suspect knows the child. In a statement this morning, authorities said:, 

The above listed individual is wanted for questioning in reference to the Kidnapping / Abduction of 8 yr old Darrick Brown Jr (m/b dob 7/25/02) from 300 blk Gwynn Ave. Anyone coming in contact with Raheem Taylor is asked to hold same and notify Det. Bennett or Sgt Simmons of Homicide at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Southwest Baltimore
        

From Jessica Anderson:

An 8-year-old boy was walking with friends in southwest Baltimore when he was taken by someone driving a green Ford Taurus Monday night, Baltimore City police said.

Darrick Charles Brown was walking in the 300 block of Gwynn Ave. at about 6:30 p.m., when, witnesses told police, a light green, newer model Ford Taurus with two people suddenly stopped near a group of kids.

One of the people inside the Taurus got out and grabbed Brown and threw him into the trunk and sped away, police said.

Darrick was wearing a black shirt with a red and white rocket on the front and black shorts. In the picutre at left, he's in the blue striped shirt on the right.

Anyone with information urged to call police at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Police say the victim of a fatal shooting in Southwest Baltimore on Wednesday night was a 16-year-old boy.

An altercation sparked by a fight among a group of girls broke out in the 1900 block of Breitwert Ave., in Morrell Park, officials said. During the melee, someone pulled a gun and fired, striking Omar D. Johnson in the stomach.

Officers were called to the scene at about 10:38 p.m., and Johnson was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma, where he died in surgery, according to police.

It was not clear whether Johnson, whose last known address was in the 1400 block of Lemmon St., was the intended victim or if he was involved in the fight. A source said Johnson did not have a criminal record as a juvenile.

Six juveniles have been slain in the city this year, records show. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

A 14-year-old Baltimore boy has been charged as an adult with first-degree rape in connection with a May 27 attack in Southwest Baltimore, according to police.

Shemarr Gilbert, who turns 15 next month, is being held without bond pending a bail review, records show.

Police spokesman Det. Kevin Brown said police learned on May 28 that the night before, a group of teens had been hanging out and drinking alcohol in a park in the 400 block of Stricker St.

When police dispersed the teens, the 14-year-old victim told police she was helped away from the park by a member of the group. She said he led her to the basement of an unknown house, where he sexually assaulted her and left her, Brown said. Police identified Gilbert as a suspect through interviews.

Police issued a warrant for his arrest on June 13, and records show he was taken into custody on Wednesday.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

From Sun reporter Julie Baughman:

City police are searching for two men who are suspected of stealing a car and shooting a man who authorities said had stopped to ask directions early Monday in Southwest Baltimore.

Police said the victim had stopped his car in the 3500 block of Winterbourne Road about 1:25 a.m., and asked two men for help. Police said the men gave directions, but then got into the car, pulled out a gun and demanded money.

At some point, the car’s 35-year-old occupant was shot in the arm, police said. Authorities are searching for a white Lexus sport utility vehicle with Maryland tags 5AD0872.

Also on Monday, police were investigating a shooting that occurred about 1:20 p.m. in the 3400 block of Ravenwood Ave., in Northeast Baltimore. An adult male was shot in the head. And police said they arrested a suspect in Sunday’s shooting on Kirk Avenue that left a woman critically wounded. Andre Stokes, 46, of the 1500 block of East 29th St., was charged with several counts, including attempted first degree murder..

And police have released the name of one of the victim’s of Thursday afternoon’s shootings that left six people wounded on the front porch of a home on Denison Street in Southwest Baltimore. The lone fatality, according to police, was Charles Michael Lassane, 55, of the 3300 block of Edmondson Ave.

No arrests have been made.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

[Photo by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum]

Six people were shot, one of them fatally, after a gunman opened fire on a group of people sitting on a porch in Southwest Baltimore in broad daylight Thursday afternoon.

Police said two of the surviving victims were last reported in critical condition, while three people were suffering non-life-threatening injuries. Ages were not available, nor did police have a description of the suspect.

The shooting broke out at about 1:30 p.m. in the 500 block of Denison St., just off Edmondson Avenue in the Allendale community near Hilton Parkway. Detectives were inspecting the front yard area of a home on the end of the block, as well as an adjacent alleyway.

Continue reading "Six shot in Southwest Baltimore, one dead" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Police and fire crews are racing to Denison Street, off Edmondson Avenue near Hilton Parkway, responding to calls that at least five people have been shot. The Sun's Justin Fenton is also headed that way an will report back.

Initial reports put at least one victim in critical condition. And word is coming out that there may be a sixth victim, found a block away, with wounds not considered serious. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Breaking news, Southwest Baltimore
        

City police today are identifying the woman found shot to death in Leakin Park on Sunday night.

Lois Smyth, 40, who was also known as Lois Vance, was found by a jogger in the 3900 block of Windsor Mill Road, between the Gwynns Falls Trail and a stream, police say. Smyth was from the 400 block of W. Maple Road in Linthicum, and had no criminal record.

Police are interviewing people of interest and have a motive, though it was not disclosed for investigative reasons. According to The Sun's homicide map, Smyth is the fifth female killed in Baltimore this year, and just the second white victim out of 83 victims.

On Facebook, friends of Smyth were organizing a candlelight vigil at Old Mill Senior High School for Thursday night.

Police also provided names for two other recent victims of fatal gun violence:  Fareed Abdullah, 28, of the 8600 block of Pine Road in Jessup, was identified as the man shot while sitting in a vehicle on Saturday morning in Northwest Baltimore, while Maurice Gray, 35, of the 800 block of Bradhurst Dr., was identified as the man shot and killed Tuesday night in the 700 block of E. Eager St.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Anne Arundel County, Southwest Baltimore
        

You can feel the pain in Camille Bell's words. She's the principal at Montebello Elementary/Middle School, and this is her sad ritual:

"Every morning, I hope and pray that I don't see their pictures, that I don't hear any homicides, that I hear nothing about [the] Northeast community, because I know it's going to affect the school community in some way. We always pray that every day will be a good day, and nobody was prepared for this."

On Wednesday, she awoke to news that one of her students, 12-year-old Sean Johnson, had been struck in the chest by a bullet. He was with three friends sitting on a porch on Cliftview Avenue in Northeast Baltimore, watching a basketball game on TV.

His three friends also were wounded, but police say Johnson is not expected to survive. Bell described him as a good student and none of the four who were injured had gotten into trouble. One had a scholarship to college. Read the compelling story of the violent night by The Sun's Erica L. Green and Justin Fenton.

More violence erupted last night:

Continue reading "Wounded boy still clings to life; more people shot" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Baltimore, Northeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore
        

Police have identified the victim of a fatal stabbing Sunday night in Southwest Baltimore as a 17-year-old city high school student, the second student killed in Baltimore in less than a week.

Dashawn Brown was a junior at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, school officials confirmed. He was in a construction program and was a good student, according to his principal, Kirk Sykes.

“He was well-known and well-liked by his classmates and the many friends he had,” Sykes said in an email statement. “He had the best sense of humor and was very skilled in masonry … and he had dreams of opening a construction business. He will be missed by the Carver school community.”

Police say officers responding to a reported aggravated assault found the teenager suffering from a stab wound to his chest about 10:35 p.m. in the 3100 block of Edmondson Ave. in the Franklintown Road neighborhood, just north of Western Cemetery. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m., police said.

A week ago, 19-year-old Marcus Nickens Jr., who officials said was a junior at Southside Academy in Cherry Hill, was fatally shot in the middle of the afternoon on May 19 in Brooklyn. Nickens was the quarterback of the school’s football team.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

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This post has been updated.

Nearing the end of a 15-year sentence for attempted murder, prison officials had approved Stanley Dunham for a work program that had him assist in making deliveries around the region.

But on Wednesday afternoon, officials say the 33-year-old walked away from his supervisor at a Southwest Baltimore shopping center and got into an argument. He was shot twice, and was last reported in critical condition.

Continue reading "After fleeing work detail, inmate shot in argument" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
Categories: Southwest 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
        

Killings in Baltimore continue to climb, with police saying a man whose body was found on fire Wednesday in Southwest Baltimore had been killed by asphyxiation and homicide detectives investigating a Friday morning fatal stabbing in Upper Fells Point.

As of early Friday, 70 people had been slain in the city, a 25 percent increase over the same point last year. Twenty-six people have been killed this month, up from 16 in all of last April.

Det. Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman, said an autopsy determined that the body found on fire in the basement of a vacant home in the unit block of Monroe St. was that of a 50-year-old man. He had been asphyxiated, and police have not identified him pending notification of his next of kin. The investigation was continuing, Monroe said.

At about 6:30 a.m. Friday, police responded to a report of a stabbing in the 1700 block of E. Lombard St., in Upper Fells Point, Monroe said. A neighbor said the victim was found in front of a neighborhood bar, but police did not have any information on the case, including the man’s identity or a possible motive.

City police have also identified a man shot to death in a triple shooting off North Avenue in East Baltimore Thursday afternoon.

Continue reading "Upper Fells Point stabbing, man found on fire in vacant swell city murder total" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore
        

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury convicted a man of attempted first degree murder and several handgun violations for opening fire on 11 city police officers in 2009. The suspect still faces charges in the killing of a customer and the wounding of the owner of a Catonsville convenience store.

Bradrick Green got into the confrontation with police who were searching for a suspect in the November 2009 shooting of Sudhir Shah, who owned Yours Convenience Store in Catonsville. A customer, Brian Michael Meise, 52, was killed in that holdup. At left is a picture of Shah when he reopened his store, taken by The Sun's Lloyd Fox.

Shah, a popular member of the community, reopened his store in May 2010. "And I have bad memories in my mind," he told a reporter then. "I'm going to work. I have to. But I'm not going to own a gun. Don't believe in that."

Here is a story with more details on the arrest of the suspect and his conviction in the shootout. He is scheduled for trial Oct. 3 in the store shooting.

Continue reading "Man convicted of opening fire on police; faces murder charge in killing of customer, wounding owner of convenience store " »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore County, Courts and the justice system, Southwest Baltimore
        

SEE UPDATE BELOW (There have now been 55 homicides in Baltimore this year, up from 52 at this time in 2010)

Four people were shot in Baltimore in a roughly three-hour period starting a little after 11 p.m. One man shot in West Baltimore was killed, two shot in one incident in Southeast Baltimore were wounded, as was a man shot in Southwest.

The first of the shooting occurred after 11 a.m. in the 600 block of North Curley St. Police said a 20-year-old was shot in the back and was in critical condition this morning. A 23-year-old was shot in the stomach and was treated and released from a hospital.

About 20 minutes later in West Baltimore, a man was found shot in the back in the rear alley of the 500 block of Schroeder St.  The unidentified victim was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and pronounce dead at 12:14 a.m. 

At 2:07 a.m., police responded to the 2100 block of Garrison Boulevard for a man shot in the hand. 

UPDATE FROM POLICE:

Continue reading "Four shot in city, one fatally" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West 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
        

A man shot in a shopping center parking lot Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood died from his injuries, city police said this morning.

Officers found Murrell Alfred Hearns Jr., 31, in front of a restaurant in the parking lot in the 700 block of Washington Blvd. with gunshot wounds to the back of the head and a leg.

A police spokesman had said Wednesday that Hearns and two others had gotten into an altercation, and the violence did "not appear that it was a random attack."
Hearns was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to police.

Before police had released the man's name and condition, Sun reporter Justin Fenton received an email from a man who said he formerly was an employer of Hearn:

I was just called by two ex employees indicating it was a third of mine. Mild mannered gentleman. Preachers kid. Nice guy. Always smiling. Another sad day for Baltimore. Another family loses their son and their father. 

Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

[Click images to enlarge]

City police are asking for the public's help in identifying some of the suspects involved in a stabbing at a Southwest Baltimore gas station that took the life of a 24-year-old city employee.

Det. Sgt. Kevin Hagan said David McClaughlin had been hanging out with friends at Peju's restaurant and lounge in Woodlawn when he and his friends got into an altercation with another group of people. When McClaughlin and the friends left the club, police believe they were followed by as many as four carloads of people who began fighting with them at a gas station in the 4500 block of Edmondson Avenue, at the Edmondson Village shopping center.

Continue reading "Police seeking help in identifying stabbing suspects " »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police say a 35-year-old man hasn't been heard from since March 13. Kenyon McClain spoke to his girlfriend that day and said he was at their Southwest Baltimore apartment, but when she arrived he was not there and not been seen since, nor has he gone to work.

Police say McClain is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 175 pounds. He operates a 2003 silver Chrysler. Anyone with information was asked to call police at 410-396-2488.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

View Weekend violence in a larger map

[UPDATE: 11:05 p.m. - Police and fire officials are tweeting that there have been three shootings in Northwest Baltimore. They have been added to this map.]

City police are reporting at least two additional homicide victims from what quickly became a bloody weekend, with 18 people reported injured or killed since Friday afternoon:

-Darshewn Freeman, 44, was found bleeding in the rear of the 1200 block of W. Ostend St. in Pigtown at about 9:40 p.m., and police said he was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died the next morning around 9 a.m. A cause of death was not immediately known and pending an autopsy. 

-David McLaughlin Jr., 24, also died after being stabbed in the 4500 block of Edmondson Ave., at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Police said he was at a gas station when he was jumped by several individuals. He was stabbed several times and taken to St. Agnes Hospital, then Maryland Shock Trauma, where he died at about 5 a.m. Police believe McLaughlin, who according to court records has prior drug convictions, may have been targeted. 

Beginning Friday afternoon, the city saw a police-involved shooting that injured an officer and left the suspect critically injured; at least three homicides - McLaughlin, Freeman and Angelo Fitzgerald, who was shot in Bolton Hill; and a slew of non-fatal shootings. There was also the tragic death of 4-year-old Tyeshawn Townsend, who found a loaded gun in a Northwest Baltimore home and shot himself in the face. Police will be briefing the media on the incidents on Monday morning at a news conference at headquarters.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore, South Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Top brass
        

A 44-year-old man convicted two months of raping one woman and trying to rape another was sentenced today to life in prison -- with all but 50 years suspended -- after pleading guilty to killing two other women in 2003.

“The defendant targeted defenseless, vulnerable young women facing challenges such as
mental issues, addiction, and poverty," State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said in a statement. "He believed that these women were expendable and that we wouldn’t pursue their killer with vigor because of their backgrounds. He was wrong on both counts. Nobody in our city is invisible, second class, or beneath our concern."

The killer, William Vincent Brown, from Gwnn Oak, dumped the bodies, and a third victim he tried to kill, in Leakin Park. The closure of this case helps shed light on a series of attacks that occurred several years ago. The Sun's Tricia Bishop documented the case in January, and her report can be found here.

More details from a statement issued by Bernstein's office:

Continue reading "Convicted rapist pleads guilty to two murders, sentenced" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Southwest Baltimore
        

A teen-ager is clinging to life at Maryland Shock Trauma after getting into an accident in South Baltmore. And police are reporting several shootings. Here is a briefing from city police spokesman Det. Kevin Brown:

SERIOUS ACCIDENT
3/11/11 - 16:15 Hrs
2200 Blk McHenry Street
 
At the above date, time and location preliminary investigation revealed that a 15 year-old operator of a dirtbike failed to stop at a stop sign and as a result struck a truck within the intersection (400 Blk S. Smallwood). He was transported to Shock Trauma with life-threatening injuries in critical condition.

For more details on the shootings:

Continue reading "Teen critically injured in dirt-bike crash; several people shot in unrelated incidents" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: South Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, West Baltimore
        

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Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore police commanders are ordering patrol officers to begin checking in with businesses on their posts to soothe concerns as commercial robberies have soared to start the year.

As of Feb. 26, robberies of businesses were up 50 percent, with 96 so far this year compared to 64 at this time last year. The number of commercial robberies involving guns has more than doubled, from 29 last year to 68 this year.

Continue reading "City police trying to get handle on commercial robberies" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

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Two workers at a Southwest Baltimore warehouse heard some noise Saturday afternoon. They went to investigate and apparently stumbled on a burglary in progress. Trying to stop it got one of them killed.

Police told The Sun's Jessica Anderson on Saturday that Marshall and a co-worker confronted the suspect at their warehouse on Hollins Ferry Road as he tried to break into a truck. The man got into his own truck and drove off, dragging the co-worker and striking and killing Masrshall.

We'll have more on this story later today and in Monday's print edition.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Baltimore City School Police are seeking help identifying the person who burglarized the North Bend Elementary School in the 100 block of North Bend Road in the Southwest District.

Police said the incident occurred about 8 p.m. Feb 20 and that the man was carrying a gun. It occurred after school had closed. Authorities did not disclose whether anything was taken or how the man got into the building.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Baltimore City School Police at 410-396-8590.

It appears that the man broke into school through a door in the loading dock. See more pictures released by city police below:

Continue reading "Police seeking armed burglar who broke into school" »

Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Police have arrested a 38-year-old man and charged him with murder in the November killing of a 30-year-old man on a Mount Clare street corner, records show.

According to charging documents, Kevin Mack, also known as "G-Black," and a second man entered the intersection of South Woodyear Street and Kuper Street with handguns and announced a street robbery. The victim, Kevin "Chuck" Anderson, had been standing on the corner with "known associates," records show.

Anderson was found dead from a gunshot wound to the back, and police recovered a .9 mm shell casing at the scene. Near the victim's body was a small blue ziplock bag containing suspected drugs, records show.

Detective James Lloyd wrote that witnesses were tracked down who gave taped statements and picked Mack out of photo lineups. Mack was indicted in Baltimore Circuit Court on Feb. 11 and remains held without bail.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest 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
        

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
        

A 36-year-old man was shot and killed Sunday night in East Baltimore when men began shooting from a white van that pulled up alongside him at a traffic light, and a 31-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon in Southwest Baltimore.

The killings mean the city, with 13 killings, has surpassed its total for all of last January, though the number is still below the average total for the month in previous years.

An officer found Antonio Lamont Lee, 36, in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, slumped over the passenger seat. Lee had been waiting at a stop light in a 2010 Acura sedan in the 1400 block of E. Monument St. when the van pulled up and suspects opened fire, police said.

The van turned northbound on Caroline Street then turned west on Madison Street. Lee was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which is a block away from where the shooting took place, where he was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m., police said.

Continue reading "Two killed in East, Southwest Baltimore" »

Posted by Justin Fenton at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Baltimore, Southwest 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 are searching a section of Leakin Park for 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes, who disappeared in mid-December and is now believed to have been killed or abducted. Police today brought in help from the FBI.

Authorities were directed to the park from a comment posted on an Internet version of a Baltimore Sun story about the girl's disappearance. It read: "Humor me, somebody pop over to the 4000 block of Franklintown Road and look at the Southward shoulder."

Police caution they have no other evidence to suggest the girl is there, but they want to cover all their bases. The posting may simply reference the park's notorious reputation as a body dumping ground, but the specific address and location referenced in the posting caught the concern of police.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

Police have responded to a one-block stretch of Pulaski Street in Southwest Baltimore twice today in a span of five hours. The first was reported at 8:40 a.m. at Pulaski and Boyd streets, the second around 1 p.m. at Pulaski and Hollins streets. The victim's ages and conditions were not immediatley available. 

The shootings took place in a troubled area of Southwest Baltimore near Bon Secours Hospital in the Booth-Boyd neighborhood near Carrollton Ridge. In May, two men were killed in separate incidents one block south of Sunday's shootings, and the area received increased attention from the city after a five-year-old girl was shot in the head with an errant bullet last year. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

A year ago this week, Army Pvt. Clifford Jamar Williams returned from Afghanistan for the holidays. His stay was to be short, as he was scheduled to be deployed for another nine months. But during a trip to the grocery store, he was fatally shot while driving in his SUV near his Southwest Baltimore home.

Williams always had a sense of responsibility, working throughout high school to help support his family. He joined the military, where he became a specialist in helicopter mechanics. His family worried for him every day, but he would be killed not 7,000 miles away, but in his own neighborhood.

Williams' sister Katrice Lambirth called me today to give an update on the case and make sure the public knows they still need help solving his murder. She said detectives have a suspect, but say they need more evidence before proceeding.

"I don't want people to think we forgot about him or that we're not out to get the people that did this to him," Lambirth said. "It's been a year. I want somebody to come forward and say something."

The circumstances of his death were somewhat puzzling - he was shot while in his car, but it was not likely an errant bullet, as he was hit twice. And it wasn't a robbery, because his valuables were still in his possession.

"It was no accident, for him to get killed a block from his house and still have ID, wallet, everything," Lambirth said. "For him to be going out of the country for nine months, and be killed on his third day back - what possibly can he have done?"

Lambirth said her mother has moved out of the family home, too overcome with sadness of memories of happier times. Williams has a son who just turned three, and Lambirth said they often show him pictures of his father.

"Every time I see him, I show him a picture. He says, 'That's my daddy!'" she said. "We want to keep his memories live."

Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the homicide unit at 410-396-2100, or Metro Crime Stoppers. Lambirth said a reward is being offered for information leading to a conviction. 

[Sun photo by Lloyd Fox]

Posted by Justin Fenton at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

The woman found shot multiple times in West Baltimore early Sunday has been identified as 25-year-old Cherrie Gammon, a mother of two who danced on The Block. Though police said they did not have her name, a family friend directed a reporter to her Facebook and MySpace pages, where friends are grieving. 

Wrote one friend: "cherrie i love you so much! it's like a horrible dream i can't believe you are gone. i don't understand. i just want to wake up and see you again and have someone tell me it was all a dream. but i know it's not. i love yu and will never forget all the times we shared. i love you!"

Gammon last updated her page last week, posting a message from her phone about the fire that ravaged several clubs and stores on The Block. According to her pages, she was engaged and worked at Club Pussycat.

Police say Gammon's body was found just before 5 a.m. in the 1400 block of N. Franklintown Road, near the east entrance to Leakin Park. She had been shot multiple times in the chest and was pronounced dead at about 8:30 a.m. at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Gammon did not have a criminal record, though she had a pending drug charge in city district court.

Police have not provided additional details about the case, but anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

With a foiled bomb plot in the county garnering national attention Wednesday, shootings in the city continued, taking two lives. A suspected drug dealer was killed in what police believe was a robbery in Northeast Baltimore near Good Samaritan hospital. Here's the account of that shooting.

Then Wednesday night, over a span of about 10 minutes, police received reports of at least three shootings in the neighborhoods around Leakin Park. The addresses are a mess - we've been given 3 addresses for one of the shootings, and two for another - but we know that one person, 20-year-old David Carter, was killed in the shooting that occurred in the 2800 block of Westwood Ave.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Southwest Baltimore
        

A brief update before the weekend, as police have identified two additional homicide victims. Information is still sparse, and we'd like to hear from family members of the victims if they happen upon this blog post.

-Patrick Dolan, 19, was identified as the man fatally stabbed in what appeared to be a robbery at 10:30 a.m. in the Belair-Edison neighborhood earlier this week. Dolan, who does not appear to have any criminal record, was stabbed in the 3500 block of Juneway, a few blocks north of Archbishop Curley High School, on Nov. 23. According to a death notice posted on the Sun's web site, his funeral was today.

-Davon Douglas, 28, is the man who was fatally stabbed in the 1800 block of Eagle St. on Nov. 24 at about 8 a.m. Police said they did not have a last known address for Douglas, but records indicate he was from the Brooklyn area. He had a long record of drug arrests, though none since last year. In 2002, Douglas had money stolen from his pants pocket by a city paramedic responding to an accident scene.

On Twitter, a user named Cuzzo410 wrote this: "This city i love..has no heart...no soul it took my brotha away from me RIP BOWS (Davon Douglas)" 

For those interested in demographics of the city's crime, Dolan is just the 12th white homicide victim, out of 203 people slain so far this year. Meanwhile, both men were stabbed - only 23 of this year's victims have died from stab wounds, the cause of death for three of the past five people killed in the city. A fourth died from blunt force trauma. 

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Northeast Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore
        

UPDATE: Baltimore police are reporting another killing in Southwest -- a 28-year-old man stabbed in the neck this morning on the front steps of a house in the 1800 block of Eagle St. It's officially in the Southern police district, but the neighborhood is Carrollton Ridge, a hard-hit area of the southwestern part of the city. Police tell me they're investigating robbery, but it's unclear if this latest killing is related to the others.

Baltimore police are looking to quell an outbreak of shootings in the Southwest part of the city and say some might be related. The Sun's Justin Fenton takes a look at the violence and the department's efforts to avoid a late-year outbreak that could threaten the historic lows seen in homicides in 2009:

A series of shootings and killings in the Southwestern police district over the past few days — pushing the number of city homicide victims to 200 for the year — has police deploying extra officers and the commissioner pushing for greater sharing of intelligence among investigators.

Between Friday and Tuesday morning, three people were killed in the area just east and south of Leakin Park, as well as another three who were injured in nonfatal shootings. Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman, said at least some of the shootings appear to be connected.

"We have to move as fast as these guys do," Guglielmi said, adding that police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III wants enhanced and speedier sharing of intelligence about these crimes within the department.

Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Confronting crime, Southwest Baltimore