In the belly of the whistling dog

A coupla drunk rednecks threw beer at a Yankees fan, then punched him and sent him over the railing onto concrete at the O's game, fracturing his skull.*

City officer Ashley Roane offered to give a drug dealer a confidential list of informants, the drug dealer was actually an informant.* Oops!

Two more murders* -- victims Wayne Vendemia ("blunt force trauma via hag") and Melvin Taylor -- bring the toll to 89.

Now that's odd: the NRA's minions claimed they sent over a million emails opposing gun control when it was up for a vote in April. Little more than a month later and the gun-rights lobby can't even scare up 18,000 signatures to move repeal to referendum and in typical never-say-fail fashion is claiming it's because they're going the lawsuit route.* Someday.

Also failed: the death-penalty anti-repeal efforts*
 

From hero to zero: "Z on TV"* lauds Petrice Sanders' interview with Andres Alonso that prompted him to have an on-air mini-meltdown. You can't criticize $99 chicken dinners because das raysis! Perhaps most scandalous of all: even though the media got hold of the audit, it doesn't sound like anyone in the school system even bothered to read it. Alonso: "I feel like I'm in the belly of the beast right now." Yes, because the Fox45 set is just like prison-- dude, did you even read the book? [@9:31 - also when he starts to lose it.]

Melvin Taylor, 23, who was shot a few days ago in 2800 blk of N Dukeland, has died, police say.
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) June 1, 2013

The Sweet Smell of White Privilege

Check out convicted felon Francisco Milos and his girlfriend Lynnie Lewis, both 29, who were stockpiling assault rifles, bulletproof vests, pot and ammunition in their house north of Patterson Park.* ... Why does Burt look so disgruntled in that tattoo? Or is he actually puffing a doob?

Another police-lawsuit payout: $72,000 to three members of the Reyes family, who were arrested, punched, and saw one Tased while handcuffed* in front of the Mad River Bar & Grille.

So here is perhaps a reason why Baltimore City spends the second-most in the country per pupil: dinner cruises, $99 chicken dinners, a $250,000 suite renovation for the head of the IT department, mother-daughter makeovers and tutoring services that were never verified as performed (a la the tutoring fraud Joan Jacobson uncovered in 2010) and contractors who may or may not have done any kind of work.* So basically a repeat of the results of the legislative audit three years ago,* but with makeovers and chicken dinners on the side.

What, what? Mayor SRB officiated at the wedding of two city lobbyists.

Cleaners on Old York Road robbed at gunpoint, as was the Stadium Lounge for like the bazillionth time.

At a Roland Park Civic League meeting, Batts apologized to a woman whose babysitter had to wait 20 minutes for police to respond while burglars were in her house.* ... wow, when's the last time you heard any city official apologize for anything? He also reportedly told the audience that their help is needed to improve "people who do not have the sophistication" of Roland Parkers, particularly in areas of town where residents "don’t 'speak,' 'dress' or 'smell' like them."

Morgan Arnold and Jason Bulmer were indicted and charged as adults* for the murder of Morgan's dad Dennis Lane.

Yuck of the Irish

Busy all day, so what the hell happened?
Well...

Cham Green

Baltimore City homicide victim #41(march 18) an Unidentified Male had a disagreement at a home's doorway entrance in the 2700 block of Fox Street, which is in Remington between 26th and 2th street near Howard Street.

The third trial for one of the two guys accused of beheading three children moved ahead with a recording never before played in court*, which places Adan Canela on the scene at the time of the crime.  Fer fart's sake, does every reporter covering this case call these two by different names? So this is the trial now of Policarpio Espinoza Perez, who Justin George is calling Espinoza Perez. And he's calling Adan Canela Espinoza Canela. Anyway so who is Adan Canela to Guadaloupe? Fortunately there's a chart.* Sooo. Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of Policarpio. Espinoza Perez or Espinoza-Perez or just Perez. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez. So now Policarpio can testify against Adan since they're being tried separately for the first time, and even though three trials for illegal immigrants paid for by us is kind of a bitch, at least we are finally getting a clue to what happened and some justice for those poor children, Lucero and Ricardo Espinoza and Alexis Quezada.

Michael Wesley

Police have ID'd Rachel Curtis' killer as freckly Michael Wesley, left, who is out and about, so if you see him call police.

Gary Burton

Surly-looking Gary Burton was arrested* for the homeless shelter stabbing, and two more people were killed yesterday. Cham says ID on 1800 Ruxton Avenue victim is Terrence Rheubottom, 27, of Moreland Avenue. A guy on Manchester Avenue was found bullet-ridden in a car.

Just got off the phone w the father of one of the weekend homicide victims: Worked at Coast Guard yard,* may be mistaken identity situation
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Safe Streets opened a location on Park Heights and they have their own hashtag, #stopshooting

The luck of the Irish was not with the County's Franklin Precinct Capt. Matthew McElwee, nabbed at a St. Patrick's day sobriety checkpoint,* and oo, the Deuce has a photo. Not a sloppy drunk photo, but it'll do.

In Parkville a drug-related stabbing*

Some rough-looking girls got into it at Anne Arundel High over some Instagram photos

Have a smart phone or tablet stolen on an MTA bus or rail car recently? Willing to talk about it for a story? Hit me back
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

Can't get out to that most recent shooting scene. If @baltospectator were here, I'd never hear the end of it
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) March 18, 2013

School shooter to be charged as an adult

Robert "Bobby" Wayne Gladden Jr., 15, will be charged as adult with attempted first-degree murder and assault in the Perry Hall High shooting. For what it's worth, Gladden's father has a criminal history on the JIS that includes assault with attempt to murder, battery, malicious destruction of property, theft, "marihuana" possession and "not marihuana" possession. County police say bullying was *not* an issue, and that Gladden had brought a disassembled 40-year-old shotgun, 27 rounds of ammo and a bottle of vodka to school on the bus that morning. His victim is out of surgery, still in critical condition, and apparently has Down syndrome.

Meanwhile, Gawker reports that the shooter's Facebook page status has been shared over a thousand times. And a picture. Says Gawker, "he looks like your standard Skrillex-listening mall-goth." Or rather a Rammstein-listening mall goth (guy on his Facebook cover = Till Lindemann-Rammstein, see below.

Perry Hall School Shooting

[update: now that we know what the shooter looks like, who the heck is this guy?]

WBAL reports that a student shot another student in the back in the cafeteria; students say the shooter was a bullied loner who retaliated after food was thrown at him. WJZ reports teachers tackled the suspect and the 17-year-old victim is alive but in critical condition, the Sun is reporting the shooter is 15,* and the guy at the hardware store says he had a rifle. The streets around the high school are shut down and parents are advised to pick up their kids at the Perry Hall Shopping Center. Today was the first day of school for city and county public schools.

April 23

29-year-old Van Maurice Johnson was fatally shot in the back early yesterday morning in the 1900 block of W. Lombard St.

Cheyenne Hoope, 27, was throwing a party at his White Marsh house when he was stabbed to death by a party crasher. 26-year-old Jason Madigan was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Matthew Tracy was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash after he hit a Pennsylvania man who was changing a flat tire early Sunday morning.

On Saturday, Donnell Brown was shot in the back on McCulloh St. On Friday, a 57-year-old Washington man was shot outside a house in the 300 block of Scott St.

A 24-year-old man was shot by police in Morrell Park on Sunday after hitting an officer and throwing him off the porch. On Saturday morning, a BPD officer shot a man on S. Bentalou St. during a police chase.

A suspicious, three-alarm fire mysteriously broke out in two separate places within the same Dundalk office building.

The Rockville High School principal suspended 26 students for cutting class for a party.

March 7

A Baltimore jury convicted Ameer Taylor, 32, of the 7400 block of Barkers Court, today of first degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge David Ross sentenced Taylor to life in prison for the murder and a consecutive 20 years for the handgun count. On June 2, 2005 at approximately 2:30 a.m. Samuel David Richardson (right) and his girlfriend were walking home from their jobs at the Rendez-Vous Bar on 26th street. As they walked along the 400 block of West 26th Street Taylor drove past them, stopped his car, backed up to them, said something to Richardson and fired two fatal shots, striking him twice in the head.
The conviction is surely a relief to Liz and the Richardson family.

Murder Ink recounts last week's victims Vernon Carter, Vic Finner, Thomas Terry [our 48], and Anthony Brown, notes arrests for muders of David Savage, Stephanie Stevens, Harold Robinson and Marcus McDowell.

Bodyguards for teachers?
An Art teacher at Waverly middle school was assaulted by students and quit in fear for her safety, now the state is seeking to suspend her certification for breaking her contract.

The Justice Department acknowledged yesterday that Thomas DiBiagio was forced from office, but an employee says it was the "front-page indictment" memo that did in his career.

"The governor, attorney general, state's attorneys, police chiefs and three-quarters of the House of Delegates all are gung-ho to pass legislation expanding the ability to prosecute" alleged gang members for "participating in a criminal gang knowing that the other members engage in crime" but the definition of "gang" sounds awfully vague: "to be a gang, it must have some kind of identifying sign, symbol, name, leader or purpose."
So if call up your friends and plan to meet them somewhere to do something, you're a gang.


Edgy new billboards invoke Itchy Man.