Monday, May 7, 2007

May 7

Wow! This weekend's murder rate is down 66% from the same period last week. Perhaps the mayor and police commissioner should schedule a meeting to celebrate their success. Yesterday morning at about 1:30, an unidentified man was repeatedly shot in the 200 block of S. Spring Ct. in the Southeastern. He died at Hopkins about an hour later. Early Saturday morning, an unidentified man was fatally shot in the head in the 1300 block of Herkimer St.

Two more of last week's murder victims have been identified. 23-year-old Matthew Davis was the man found in an Acura in the 100 block of S. Mount St. on Thursday evening. 16-year-old Jamal Knox was the boy found in a car in the 500 block of Half Mile Ct. last Monday.

In addition to the newly-identified homicide victims, today's Blotter (linked above) also lists a shooting, two stabbings, a whole bunch of burglaries in the county, and the arrest of Gregory Davenport for the murder of Dewitt Smith.

Soman Thamby was arrested and charged with killing his wife, Lesa.

A PG man was stabbed to death at an International House of Pancakes in Bladensburg early this morning.

Ten teenagers escaped from the Charles Hickey School on Sunday night, and five of them are still at large.

Not only had Brandon Grimes, the man accused of killing Det. Troy Chesley, been arrested 17 times, but the gun that Grimes used in the murder had come to the police's attention twice before.

Pharoah Carr, a witness in the murder trial against LeShawn Green, is refusing to testify in court, so city prosecutors have been granted the right to use a taped interview with police.

Shawn Anthony Jones' trial begins today in Carroll County Circuit Court. Jones is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Donnie Bowman, and attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Lamont Dew.

Opening arguments are scheduled to begin today in the trial of John Gaumer, accused of murdering and raping Josie Brown on their first date. The Examiner article really reflects what a spineless piece of crap Gaumer is.

Someone set a fire in the elevator of a Towson University dorm.

19 comments:

taotechuck said...

I'm assuming the Spring Ct. shooting was S. Spring Ct., since I think N. Spring Ct. would put the killing in the Eastern instead of the Southeastern.

burgersub said...

no it wouldn't.

C Love "The Rap Addict" said...

Not sure if any of you listened to marc steiner today, but he had mayor dixon on the second half of the show...I think she conducted herself very well.

The lady has a tough job.

I think they guy from techbaltimore called in to talk about the clean up in Pig Town....I was hoping someone from here would have called in or wrote an e-mail. Baltimore needs your opinions!!!All new initiatives will take the communities veiwpoints into consideration more so than ever before.

brainmarket said...

Crawford, anyone?

John Galt said...

Nice to see that the new crime plan is working.

Gor said...

I agree with you c love, Mayor Dixon does have a tough job, but she sure does look like she out of her element. She might be acceptable has a committee member (hell, she might be good as the committe head), but in my humble opinion, she doesn't seem to have the detailed knownledge, understanding, or fortitude to be the mayor of one of the most violent, crime-infested, major city in this country.

I might accept her as mayor in Havre de Grace, but as the major of Baltimore, she more like a doctor's receptionist that's in charge of the operation.

John Galt said...

OK, so they moved the homicides to here.

burgersub said...

so if one of the people murdered yesterday was in the custody of the department of corrections, shouldn't that murder be their responsibility? or does it fall on the city because they were on the street and not actually on DOC/DOC-contracted property?

Gor said...

The article sounds like it happened in Baltimore's jurisdiction, so I believe Baltimore would own it (not that they would want to).

Also, I really liked the term "spasm" to refer to the jump in the body count.

burgersub said...

what about when kevin johns strangled phillip parker aboard a prison van on I-70 in baltimore county? i think DOC ate that one (not sure though). is it because the van counts as being on DOC property?

Maurice Bradbury said...

Hey Burg, do you have time to do the blog today?
Chuck and I are both swamped, and there was some crazy-azz standoff on the West Side.

And here's an e-mail from a reader:
"Have you heard anything about a group of teens knocking on doors in Ridgley’s Delight on Monday morning around 10 a.m.? Supposedly, someone in the group shot at the front door of one home, hitting the occupant."

sheezizzzz!

If you can't I'll try to blog some stuff tonight after the child goes to bed...

burgersub said...

i would've earlier, but i have to go down to the mouse colony now and do some shit. maybe later in the afternoon if nobody else has done it by then...

John Galt said...

Yeah, check it out.

And regarding our manpower problem, look what the geniuses are doing now.

John Galt said...

Readers: look what kind of data access taxpayers' money gets them in Richmond (VA). There is a corresponding RichmondCrime -type site as well.

I mention this specifically because WMARtv is doing a report Wednesday night on what Richmond is doing right about its inner-city crime and Baltimore is not.

Now, Richmond is a smaller, more mainstream city. It is less than one third our population and around one quarter our homicides. It has just about one quarter our police manpower, but they seem to be more intelligently deployed. And the Richmond Police Dept. doesn't have the goon-squad history that BCPD has earned, so citizens view it a little differently.

The Stace said...

There was something going on in our neighborhood last night in the alley between Lombard and Hollins, 800 block. We saw about 4 people lead away in cuffs. Cop-copter circling around. Countless cars and uniforms. It was about 8:30 pm. Haven't seen anything in the news. Didn't hear any shots. But that amount of activity is slightly unusual for this area.

John Galt said...

To continue the Baltimore-Richmond comparison, we have about 44% more violent crime per capita, while they have about 27% more reported property crime per capita. Interestingly, their property crime is skewed toward larceny-theft, while ours is skewed toward burglary, so this may well be about the likelihood of reporting minor losses.

This is why I characterize Richmond as 'more mainstream' in its criminal behavior.

John Galt said...

WJZ reports on the administration's lousy crime results this year: murder up 6%.

John Galt said...

Police Union president Paul Blair tells WBAL radio that putting detectives on a beat will have consequences in a city where violent crime investigations are backlogged.

And he reminds us that the total manpower is still way inadequate.


Jeez, newsflash: double shooting at ParkHeights & Coldspring. The Po-Po have closed off the intersection.

Like I said, we need more cops.

ppatin said...

I also heard the bit about putting homicide detectives on patrol duty. Idiotic. I knew Hamm wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but damn.