Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year's Eve hit and run

Officer Courtney G. Brooks was hit and killed while he worked a traffic detail last night at the intersection of 95 & 395. He was a 13-year police veteran. Police are looking for a green Ford Explorer with temporary Delaware tags XB719820.

(I almost feel bad for my snide comment about WJZ in the previous post. Almost.)

January 1

Lewis Lee Cochran was arrested in the Edgewood home invasion on Sunday that left one man dead.

A Maryland Transportation Authority officer was the victim of a hit and run last night near 95 and 395. WJZ says he was killed, but WJZ says a lot of things.

The man killed outside the Stop, Shop & Save on N. Caroline St. last Friday has been ID'd as 25-year-old Todd Dargan.

Also in the Blotter (above link), the carjacker who desperately needed a '91 Blazer got arrested, the guy who got shot finally remembered where it happened, and teenagers in the metro area just aren't being very nice to each other.

Bringin' in the new year at juvie.

Looks like at least a few of the teens charged with beating Sarah Kreager on the MTA's No. 27 bus tried to claim that Kreager started the fight.

William A. Hendry IV allegedly taped he and his ex-wife having sex without her consent.

A 43-year-old man in Annapolis was stabbed after four men accused him of an earlier robbery.

Today's tip for stupid criminals: Don't ask a cop to move his car when (a) you're carrying around nearly 9 grams of wacky tabaccy, and (b) you're the reason the police were called in the first place.

The Examiner has a bunch of pretty neat year-end recaps that include updates on some major stories. Here's the one for Baltimore City.

Vandals in HoCo painted hateful messages on cars, houses, and driveways in well-to-do Clarksville.

Monday, December 31, 2007

December 31

Five members of a Parkville family were killed by a drunk driver in Ohio.

A Gwynn Oak man got his ass kicked -- both physically and legally -- after allegedly raping an underage Salvadoran girl who he smuggled into the country.

Josh Mitchell takes a look at differences in the motives that drive suburban and urban homicide.

Two men in Edgewood were shot by Crips yesterday.

Police have the victim and the bullet wound, but nobody knows where it happened. (Also in the Blotter, a grocery store owner was stabbed and robbed, a man was carjacked of his nearly 20-year-old Chevy, and a blonde woman in the Southeastern is armed with a bad sense of fashion.)

A Bel Air man is attributing a Molotov cocktail attack on his house to "a rash of vandalism in his neighborhood."

Be on the lookout for a 5'9" black man with a graying goatee who is wearing blue jeans and robbing banks. Wait a second... I think there's three of him working in my office as we speak!

MTA Police Chief David Franklin says the buses are safe; one of the nine kids who attacked Sarah Kreager doesn't agree.

If the slackers at the Dunkin Donuts in Berlin, MD kept their stupid store open 24 hours like every other DD on the face of the planet, these morons wouldn't have stood a chance.

Rodney Bethea just wants to talk, man!

Pat Jessamy's staff is looking into bogus parking tickets in the city.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

December 30

The Sun does their year-end homicide wrap-up without any sensationalist headlines. Depressing QOTD from Julie B.: "The increase, though slight, underscores a troubling trend in homicides that leaves Baltimore standing virtually alone among major American cities."

A look at the strategies of some of those other American cities.

HarCo reduced their homicide rate by nearly 50%.

More details on the delivery driver from China Spring who was robbed and shot in Glen Burnie last week.

I missed an interesting article from yesterday's Sun about dealing with violence in the city's schools. (On an unrelated note, did you know that we have a Homeland Security Academy in West Baltimore? Does that seem creepy to anyone but me?)

I don't entirely understand the details, but protective orders in Maryland are being standardized to offer more consistent protection to victims of abuse. Or something like that.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

December 29, Evening Edition

A corpse was found on I-97 near Annapolis, and an abandoned car was found nearby.

A man in his late 30s committed suicide at Lexington Market this morning.

Joseph Brown was allegedly selling a handgun when he was murdered. There's an important lesson here for aspiring illegal gun dealers: don't give loaded weapons to your potential customers.

You mean Christmas Eve isn't the traditional day of desecrating tombstones?

Gotta love those JZ headlines that inform us of genuinely surprising local developments: "Baltimore's Murder Rate Continues To Climb".

December 29

A 25-year-old man became victim #282 yesterday afternoon outside the Stop, Shop & Save on N. Caroline St.

The man murdered in Pikesville has been ID'd as 22-year-old Joseph Edward Brown.

Very disturbing details on the child abuse allegations against Towson parents John and Susan Griffin.

A man was shot by police last night in the Southwestern, probably because society forced him to try to run over a cop.

The Bus Beaters aren't getting charged with hate crimes. No word on whether they'll be charged with being assholes.

Shoplifters and armed robbers run amok in the Blotter.

Friday, December 28, 2007

December 28

A Towson couple was arrested after their 3-year-old, 14-pound son died. According to the boy's parents, he had the flu and a Christmas tree fell on him.

The body of a man in his 20s was found in a rarely used alley in Pikesville, and authorities aren't sure who he is or how he got there.

A few victim IDs in the Blotter: William Harper was the guy who was killed on Christmas Eve on Reisterstown Rd., and Kevin Bacon was the man who was killed on Wednesday on N. Dallas St. Police are still looking for info about the man who was killed on 12/20 on S. Paca St. in Mt. Winans.

Today's Blotter is chock full of good times, Baltimore style. Did you know that we have a T&A Mart, and it's not on the Block?

Also in the Blotter, a man was stabbed in the neck at a bus stop on North Ave. Everybody together now: "M - T - A. Reliable and Safe. M - T - A. Reliable and Safe."

Speaking of reliable and safe, apparently it's those meddling kids who are causing all the problems on the buses.

A city resident is behind bars in HoCo after allegedly being too much of a wuss to move on after his girlfriend dumped his ass for another guy.

No bail for David Winters.

If I'm understanding the poorly worded article correctly, a home invasion in Cumberland left a victim and an assailant wounded.

Alleged sexual offender Ronald Lee Moore was caught breaking into a house in Louisiana. He was accidentally released from the Baltimore City Correctional Center last month.

Today's helpful hint for stupid gun owners: don't stash your gun beneath the cushions of your couch if you have a 5-year-old kid.

Okay, do we really expect a guy who can spend weeks sitting on top of a bar to be financially responsible?

Ahhhhh... we'll be seeing much more of this as the mortgage mess continues to unfold.
I'll be on 105.7 with Luke Broadwater at noon-- tune in!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

December 27

A man was fatally shot yesterday in the 1700 block of N. Dallas St. (Copy editors at the Sun are apparently on vacation this week: "where he was died during surgery...")

Jason Milton Allen was ID'd as the man who was fatally shot in the 2300 block of Druid Hill Ave. on Friday night.

In MoCo, recent Marine recruit David Winters claimed a bunch of scary men attacked him and his father. Police didn't buy the story, and charged Winters with killing his dad.

Five non-fatal (so far) city shootings were reported in this morning's Sun, including a 24-year-old woman who was driving with her family on Orleans St. by Hopkins early on Christmas morning, and a 19-year-old man who was carrying a pistol and some crack when he got a bullet lodged in his skull and flipped his car. Sucks to be him.

A delivery driver was shot and robbed in Glen Burnie last night.

A 55-year-old inmate at Jessup was stabbed and taken to Shock Trauma. No word yet on whether or not he was able to escape from the hospital.

If you live in an upstairs apartment, it's probably best if you don't shoot randomly through your floor.

Rodney wishes he'd stopped bitchin'.

Project EXILE charged 18 people with federal gun offenses in December, including Rodney's poor, victimized friend Akiba.

One of Sheila D.'s minions said yesterday's bus shooting was unacceptable, because "we need for (public transit) to be reliable and safe." Huh. Obviously these people don't ride the bus.

Oh, hey... look at that. A 17-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother were robbed at gunpoint while waiting for an MTA bus. Reliable and safe, my ass.

The zoo is safe, as long as you don't take the bus to get there.

Beware of phony cops who call and ask for credit card info on your customers.

Okay, somebody has to know what happened on Christmas night on the corner of S. Broadway and E. Pratt. We Baltimore Crimers slave over hot computers day and night for you, so the least you could do is fill in a missing gap here and there. Or don't. We don't really care anyway. Whatever. (Uh-oh. All the passive-aggressive family holiday fun is spilling over.)

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

December 26

One of the three Christmas Eve shooting victims mentioned on Tuesday succumbed to his injuries, and another fatal Christmas Eve shooting was reported.

This morning, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg on the No. 15 bus in West Baltimore.

Hey Kevin... generally speaking, we shouldn't stab our friends.

The Greater Baltimore Committee has statistics that prove Baltimore's a pretty great place to live.

It's got nothing to do with crime, but 16 cats died in a Cockeysville fire, and a 300-pound man and his dog died in a fire in the Southwestern.

Something went down around 11:00 last night at the corner of S. Broadway and E. Pratt. Does anybody know what happened?

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Weekend

Friday night, a man was found shot to death at the intersection of North and Druid Hill avenues.

Baltimorean judicial suckitude has pissed off the Beantown PD!:
Boston police officer Lt. David Murphy allegedly punched his girlfriend off a Baltimore barstool and fled from cops, but because "the Baltimore judgment amounted to a dismissal of legal charges," the Boston police Commissioner says his department has no choice but to let Murphy return to work-- gun, badge and all.

Police are looking for a suspect in a fatal shooting in Edgewood.

What's new in "Stop Snitching 2"? Marketing savvy, and one Kenneth Morris, who "serves as a Virgil to the Dantes lost in Baltimore's Inferno."

An officer was accidentally shot by a bullet meant for a dog.

Friday, December 21, 2007

December 21

Four nonfatal shootings and a stabbing the Blotter.

There was a fourth arrest in the Glen Stewart murder.

Edward Williams got 85 years for robbing an off-duty police officer and her then-5-year-old daughter at gunpoint in January.

University of MD law students helped get some indigent non-violent detainees released.

Rilly? GBC says that the city is growing in "prestige, population."

WYPR continues coverage of ex-offenders re-entering society

QTD: "The thing that always amazes me is what people think that we do and what we're capable of. They think that we're some place between a super hero and the Pope with a law degree." -- Maynard Edwards re. the Ed Norris show. ("we"?)

Good news! If you've turned 17 since November 4 of this year, you can now register to vote, and vote in your party's primary! Just download the forms and mail them in.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

December 20

A man was shot to death in the 2600 block of S. Paca Street this morning. Sentementes reports that this is official murder #277.

Lezli Williams, 22, was strangled to death Tuesday afternoon in her apartment, and police are seeking a suspect.

"A man who refused to surrender to police for several hours after a domestic situation yesterday afternoon in an apartment in the 2700 block of Greenmount Ave. in the Barclay community was taken into custody and faces domestic assault charges."
And "A man was shot in the chest about 8:30 p.m. yesterday in the 900 block of Pennsylvania Ave."
Plus lots of robbery in the Blotter.

The girl stabbed on the #51 bus reportedly participated in the brawling.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Indictment for the Murder of Carl Eugene Barnes

The Grand Jury today indicted Brandon Holland, 25, of the 3800 block of Delverne Road for first-degree murder and handgun charges. Court documents allege on August 1, 2007, Brandon Hall was identified as the person responsible for a shooting Barnes several times in the unit block of 2400 block of Westwood Avenue.

It's Stop Snitching 2!

Just in time for Christmas! Says the DVD's site, Stop Snitching 2
The highly controversial “Stop Snitching” DVD gained national attention and multimedia coverage raising the bar for what is considered real in urban America. Fearing their message was too powerful Baltimore City and Maryland State officials attempted to pass legislation to prevent the filmmakers from producing a sequel but to no avail Producer Rodney Bethea and Host Skinny Suge bring you “Stop Snitching” Part 2 and continue to show the reality of hard times on hard streets.

Learn the truth behind the rumors of the first “Stop Snitching” DVD. Find out the real story behind who was arrested and why? The role the media played spreading lies and what they didn’t want you to know!
... and local media and the mayor are giving them plenty of free press!
UPDATE: More from the Sun.
QTD: "Jessamy said she is a bit flattered by the mention of her name in the sequel, attached as it is to some salty language."
Hope this one has subtitles knowhatimsayin?

December 19

Our 275th official murder was three-year-old Jabari Stocks, who died of a head injury.

Your tax $$ at work:Ronald Lee Moore
A portly and violent rapist, Ronald Lee Moore, was accidentally released from an AAC jail. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Tracy Morgan at 410-222-3466 or 410-222-8610.

Nine plaintiffs have joined the ACLU's illegal-arrest-practices lawsuit against the BPD.

"Maryland paid welfare benefits to about 52,000 residents who in 2006 did not provide Social Security numbers or used invalid ones, according to a state audit of the Family Investment Administration." That's about 17% of total welfare cases.
(Did you know? The Washington Times is owned by Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church!)

A police officer got glass in his eye responding to a domestic call on Sunday; a 49-year-old woman stabbed a man in his home; a chainsaw, methadone, Greek god statue and half a bottle of rum purloined in the Blotter.

The machete-wielding man shot by police in Catonsville was awaiting trial on charges of making his foster children watch pornography.

Police arrested some big-deal jewel thieves in Timonium.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Three Bus Attacks in Three Weeks!

A teenage girl was stabbed in the arm today on the #51 bus near Mondawmin! Have city buses always been rolling hellholes, or are we in the throes of some widespread teenager freakout?

Remember Kenneth Barnes, whose visit to a Falls Road snowball stand got him arrested and triggered a panic a la "Little Children"? Now the victim of the original case says she lied. His mother is asking the public to call the governor to ask for his release for Christmas.

The Ink reports on the murders of Artavious Tubman, Richard Lawson and Jamal Rowlett.

The CP, and excellent reporter Van Smith, are being sued for $12 million by Nicholas Piscatelli, who claims that the paper accused him in two stories in 2006 of murdering Jason Convertino and Sean Wisniewski or arranging their murders.

25 Years for Murder and Robbery of Jose Mendoza

From the SA's office:
At arraignment today, William Salmeron, 21, of Owings Mills, Maryland pled guilty to second degree murder, attempted robbery deadly weapon and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. Judge Lynn K. Stewart sentenced Salmeron to 25 years in prison for the murder count and a concurrent 20 years for the robbery and five years for the handgun counts.

On January 16, 2006, Salmeron was among a group of people who entered a restaurant in the 400 block of S. Newkirk Street announcing a robbery. Salmeron, who admitted to police to belonging to the gang MS-13, told the court today that he and the others were riding around and needed money. He and the unknown assailants with a shotgun attempted to rob the establishment when the owner, Jose Mendoza, 42, grabbed the weapon. A struggled ensued and one of the assailants shot Mendoza in the head. He died at Johns Hopkins Hospital the same day.

Salmeron is already serving a 26-year prison sentence handed down for a murder in North Carolina and is facing murder charges for a pending case in Baltimore County.

Assistant State’s Attorney and Homicide Division Chief Mark Cohen prosecuted this case.

Lawyers: Teens Demeaned

Unshockingly, lawyers for two of the alleged teen-boy bus-beaters held a press conference to say that their clients are innocent and were misidentified.
UPDATE: you can watch the press conference on the Sun's web site. Yawn.

Boy vey! The Sun reports that Israel Shapiro (not to be confused with rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro, or "Dateline" rabbi David Kaye), a former bar mitzvah lessons teacher in Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community, was charged yesterday with sex offenses that allegedly occurred nearly two decades ago against a then-12-year-old boy and his brother.