Friday January 28

Police are looking for 24-year-old Lamont Maurice Better, left, accused of stabbing his neighbor and who is also wanted for another assault.

A 41-year-old mom has pled guilty to killing her 18-month-old daughter.

And trial starts today in the stomach-turning case of a Pasadena teenager alledged to have beaten his girlfriend's daughter to death.

The usual crimes in today's Police Blotter.

Eight Dundalk teenagers were arrested for a parking lot fight after a basketball game.

Also in Dundalk, a woman was shot to death during a drug raid. (anybody know what "black powder" referrs to?)

A newly released report about former police commish Kevin Clark's domestic dispute reveals that Clark's ex dropped off his kids two days late for visitation and beat him on the head with a telephone.

Thanks to the sweaty Dexters of Hopkins, technophile car thieves will now be able to do the job without breaking windows or messing up your steering column.

And finally, police report that they seized eight guns yesterday in various incidents. Says the Sun, "in one incident, a man was spotted limping Wednesday afternoon in the 2900 block of Charles St., police said. Officers stopped him, found a 12-gauge shotgun he was carrying was the cause of the limp, and arrested him."

Elsewhere...

There's been a crime alert issued by Towson U. after a mugging in the parking lot of St. Joseph's Medical Center.

In Towson yesterday 18-year-old Matthew McCullough was sentenced to 100 years in jail for the Randallstown High shooting.

The State's Attorney announced yesterday that Jamaal Walker, 27, was found guilty in the April 16, 2003 carjacking of Edward Hawkins. Sentencing will be April 15. Co-defendant Jeremiah Poole previously pled guilty to the carjacking and use orf a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.

In Annapolis two vigilantes tried to run a bad boyfriend over with a truck.

Here's the Washington Post crime blotter for PG county.

Thursday January 27

Anna Ditkoff reports on this week's seven murders in the CP column Murder Ink.

Robbery, shootings and thievery in today's police blotter, and in the digest a man pleads guilty to beating his infant son.

Stop the killing by attacking the drug trade, says this unoriginal and leaden Sun editoral.

Wednesday January 26

An arrest has been made in the shooting deaths of three men at a halfway house in Remington, and police are seeking a second accomplice.

Stop snitching

A few weeks ago, the house of a 59 year old outspoken anti-drug activist (whose name they haven't released) was firebombed. They've now charged four suspects: according to WBAL, "Jackie Brewington, 18, and Antonino Newsome, 18, Richard Royal, 20, all of Baltimore. A fourth suspect, Andre Wilkins, 31, is from Randallstown." This is two years after the horrible firebombing that killed the entire Dawson family, kids and all.

According to the AP, "The new incident comes about six weeks after a DVD titled "Stop Snitching" hit Baltimore streets, warning people they could "get a hole in their head" for telling police about illegal drug activity." "Stop Snitching" was produced by Rodney Bethea, owner of One Love Underground in Baltimore, and a guy named Skinny Suge, who appears to sell a lot of mix tapes online, usually with names like "Street Wars 6".

Evidently, the DVD was aimed at one particular Baltimore drug kingpin who rolled over. Still looking for details.

I think it's clear that some major upheaval is going on out there, what with the 27 murders this year so far and the new police commissioner saying the drug trade is being squeezed so hard, it's causing violence. I dunno what his logic is there. They haven't come out and said it's an all-out war, but come on.

Wednesday January 26

The murderers of Justin Gaglione were arrested on Thursday after a street robbery in the Patterson Park area. Gaglione was the fourth person murdered execution-style by a pair of street robbers; the pair has also been charged in the January 20 murders of Teresa Moore and Michael Joseph Mick, who were shot in their homes, and Penelope Medina, who was shot on the 2100 block of East Fayette Street.

This item from Dick Irwin's police blotter sounds like it has an interesting backstory:

Arrest: Sheldon Eubanks of the 2100 block of N. Smallwod St. was driving a car in the 1900 block of W. North Ave. about noon yesterday when he was stopped by members of the Warrant Apprehension Tasks Force and arrested on a charge of first-degree murder. Eubanks, 23, is charged in a warrant with shooting Alphonzo Harper, 26, in the 1000 block of Tiffany Court on Aug. 29, 2002. Members of the cold case squad assisted in the investigation of the homicide.

The CEO of the record label formerly known as Murder Inc. surrendered today to the FBI on money-laundering changes. The unsubtly nicknamed Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo is childhood friends with Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a crack kingpin from Queens believed to have arranged the revenge killing of two witnesses in Baltimore.

And fittingly, the governor introduced legistlation yesterday to make witness intimidation a crime. Believe it or not, it's currently only a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of five years, which as this Swedish-based news site points out, "is a similar penalty to racing a horse under a false name."

Finally, if you live in Baltimore and want people to care if you get murdered, note that going to Johns Hopkins apparently guarantees celebrity-level coverage by local news media.

Tuesday January 25

Detective Jones of the Baltimore City Homicide Department reports that there has been an arrest made in the shooting death of Justin Gaglione (see Sun blotter item below), but could give no further information, though interested parties may be able to get more details from the detective on the case, Napoleon Maclane, at 410-396-2400.

Jones also reports that, contrary to what was previously reported by the Hampden Happenings, the highly suspect-sounding death of Nick Marsalek has still not been classified as a homicide, a decision which rests with the Medical Examiner's Office, and the case is not currently being handled by the homicide division.

in other news...
WBAL reports that a Hopkins student was found strangled in her Charles Village apartment on Sunday, the 27th homicide in Baltimore this month. The killing was six blocks from where another Hopkins student, Christopher Elser, 20, was stabbed nine months ago.

An article form the Afro-American about the Baltimore informant who's been forced out-of-state by drug gangs.

A story about the Thanksgiving-morning whodunit murder of 23-year-old Waldorfian Christopher Mader.

from the Sun city/county digest:

Police release names of four homicide victims
City police released the names yesterday of four victims of homicides over the past 10 days.

• Police said Michael Mick, 40, was the man found fatally shot Thursday along with Teresa F. Moore, 51, in their home in the 800 block of N. Bradford St. She had been named earlier.


• A woman found shot to death in a public park in the 5700 block of Chinquapin Parkway, also on Thursday, was identified as Reshawn Myers, 19, of the 700 block of Exeter Hall Ave.


• Kenneth Battle, 29, of the 2800 block of Echodale Ave. was fatally shot Wednesday in the 2900 block of Brighton St.


• The other victim, shot to death Jan. 14 in the 300 block of E. 20 1/2 St., was identified as Justin Gaglione, 29, of the 1200 block of St. Paul St. (see middle of the page for the obituary in the Annapolis Capitol).
  

...and there's rape, robbery, assult and other assorted crimes in today's blotter.

Three people have been arrested in Dudalk for shooting at a police officer carrying out a drug raid.

The Washington Times reports that the murder rate in Baltimore has caused a shake-up in the police department.

in surrounding areas...

A woman in Rockville has pled guilty to stabbing her father.

The whole world, including the British press, has picked up the story of a refugee from Myanmar accused of stabbing his wife in front of his two kids in Catonsville over the weekend who now faces deportment.

In Harford county a fight between girl gangs led to assault with scissors.

Monday January 24

This study by the Baltimore Chronicle seems to agree with me that "TV news in Baltimore under-reports both black and urban crime," but comes to the opposite conclusion that TV news ought to report less crime than it already does.

Anyway, in Baltimore crime news, a shooting and assault made the crime blotter today.

In surrounding areas...

The Sun reports than a man has been arrested in the beating of a college sophmore in Annapolis.

News Channel 8 reports that a guy has been arrested for killing his grandmother in Beltsville.

WBAL reports that two best Buy employees were stabbed on the job in Laurel.