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The person shot at 28th and Fenwick in CHUM last night has died,* he was/is 18-year-old Christopher Briggs of Montpelier Street. Fenton notes that Briggs was charged with murder in 2009 at the age of 15, but prosecutors dropped charges due to lack of evidence.*

Accused child-killers Policarpio Espinoza and Adnan Canela's third trial began today; WBAL reports they've been offered a plea deal. Here's Julie Bycowicz's guide* to what's likely the most opaque and byzantine case in Baltimore history, a telenovela from hell. The alleged killers, also cousin and uncle of the victims, were/are all illegal immigrants from Veracruz, Mexico, and even after eight years and two trials, still no one's established a motive for the murders.

Van Smith has a rundown of the statuses of the various Nicka Conspirators.

Automatic license-plate readers that scan tags, check the criminal history of vehicle owners and track movements are already in some police cars, it appears, and Adam May and somebody named Captain Long took a look at the "police tool in action." Is this the news or Honcho? Someone pass me my salts, I'm getting the vapors!

A woman unlocking her car on S. Curley Street was stabbed in the stomach and robbed of her purse, another woman had her own hat pulled over her face and was punched in the face by a robber, a woman walking through Patterson Park and was choked and robbed while the perp's buddies laughed at her ... why does it seem like the SE is home to especially gratuitously sadistic robbers? (also see Sowers, Zach.) Lead in the pipes? Bayview human test subjects? Seriously, if you live there you really need to move the hell out. Way to kill my vapors, Baltimore Guide SE Blotter.

Another city officer is in hot water, though details are vague*-- Officer Roberto Santigo-Pagan is being investigated by the HarfCo Child Advocacy Center, which deals with cases of serious cases of child physical and sexual abuse.

Sasha Samlal

For shit's sake, this 15-year-old girl, Sasha Samlal, right, has been missing from Reisterstown since September 21 and police are just now releasing her photo.

The blech files: a 19-year-old with fetal-alcohol-y eyes who was arrested for robbing old people has also been linked to assgrabbing activities along East Joppa Road.

What the?! A professor of engineering at Morgan, Manoj Kumar Jah, has been indicted in a grant fraud scheme, wherein he allegedly solicited grants from the National Science Foundation to do research, but then used the $$ to pay his credit card bills, mortgage and give a $11k check to his wife.

The medical marijuana lobby is gearing up for its annual fight against the prison lobby. (Speaking of, according to The Sentencing Project, in 2010 MD had 70 prisoners housed in private, for-profit prison(s). Wonder what prison(s) and what companies run them?)

And finally, apropos of nothing, this painting of the Oriole bird, Mr. Boh and Poe doing the heroin lean deserves its own $24.5 million wing at the BMA.