The Old York Road boys and the crew from nearby McCabe Avenue once did battle with their fists. Now they wage war with semiautomatic weapons -- and today, five of them face charges of first-degree murder.
In the past week, a string of shootings has become the latest outbreak of a feud that has raged on and off for decades.
The body count rose Sunday night when occupants of a van opened fire on people standing in front of a Chinese carryout in the 4000 block of Old York Road.
Two people died; six others were wounded. Police say the assailants fired at least 30 rounds from semiautomatic weapons and a shotgun.
Police made a major break in the case last night, charging five men with first-degree murder and handgun violations. Two arrests have been made and police said all of the suspects are residents of the area -- a fact that is probably no surprise to police and those who live in the groups' battle areas.
Arrested at 10 p.m. at his home in the 5600 block of Govane Ave. was Marvin Day Rivers, 19; taken into custody at 5:30 p.m. was Eric Brown, 23, of the 5200 block of Ivanhoe Ave., homicide detectives said.
Also charged in warrants -- and being sought by police -- are Ronald Brady, 19, of the 600 block of Woodbourne Ave.; Reginald King, 19, of the 5600 block of Lothian Road; and Gilbert McCory, 16, of the 700 block of Glenwood Ave.
The latest incident was at least the third shooting involving residents of the neighboring Northeast Baltimore communities in the past week. "They're like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It's never taken much to precipitate a shooting," said Detective Vernon Holley.
Police say there seems to be a common link between the Sunday night shootings and two others last week: the Aug. 18 slaying of a 24-year-old man on Winchester Avenue and the shooting of five men a day earlier in the 700 block of Cator Ave.
It is unknown whether the same men were involved in each shooting, but each incident seems to have been the work of the so-called "Old York Road boys" and the "McCabe boys," police said.
In the Aug. 18 incident, Steven Johnson of the 700 block of McCabe Ave. was shot three times. Charged was Marshawn Dimar Stokes, 19, who lives about four blocks away in the 5100 block of St. Georges Ave.
The Cator Avenue shooting followed an argument at Odell's nightclub on North Avenue. After the club closed, several men followed the victims and began shooting at them with handguns. Two of the victims were shot in the head but survived.
