NEWS
By PETER HERMANN | August 23, 2009
John R. "Jack" Yates of Charles Village was killed Aug. 4, when his bicycle hit a truck near downtown. Charles G. "Boots" Pratt of Randallstown was killed Aug. 9, when a gunman shot him in a parking lot in Cherry Hill. Yates was 67, had been busy working on his third master's degree, and had two children and six grandchildren. Pratt was 18, had been busy working with the Hillside street gang, according to police, and had just escaped an attempted-murder charge because a witness recanted.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | May 20, 2009
In 1955, Shirley Smith's parents quashed her goal of becoming a teacher. Higher education, they told her, was a waste of her time and their money, the purview of men. Smith obeyed, but only temporarily. More than a half-century later, at age 72, she will receive her degree from Towson University this week after completing course work in women's studies - a field that didn't even exist when her parents discouraged her from pursuing college. A petite, energetic woman with a big laugh, she's not the oldest to receive a degree from the state's second-largest university; but with a lifetime of experience, three children and four grandchildren, she's not your typical collegian, either.
NEWS
By Tyeesha Dixon | March 19, 2009
A retired Naval Academy professor has been charged with sexually abusing a female relative when she was 12 to 14 years old. Patrick Ryan Harrison, 66, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., was charged Friday with three counts of second-degree rape, five counts of second-degree sex offenses, a third-degree sex offense and a fourth-degree sex offense. Now 27, the woman told Anne Arundel County police in December that she was sexually abused from 1994 to 1996 in Harrison's former residence in Annapolis, according to charging documents.
NEWS
February 18, 2009
Perry Hall man dies of injuries in house fire Yan Chen, 53, who was injured while trying to rescue his wife and grandchild during a fire Friday at his Perry Hall home, died of his injuries over the weekend, authorities said. Chen was one of six members of an extended family living in a home in the 5000 block of Forge Haven Drive. He had initially escaped unharmed, but went back inside. Two neighbors found Chen collapsed in the foyer and carried him to safety, but he had suffered severe smoke inhalation and serious burns.
NEWS
By Justin Fenton | January 16, 2009
A 56-year-old man was fatally shot Wednesday night in Southwest Baltimore, as a candlelight vigil for a homicide victim from last week was wrapping up just a few blocks away. More than 70 people gathered in the street in front of Tomasina Degree's South Wickham Street home Wednesday night to mourn her son, Kip, 23, remembering his love of dancing and warning of the dangers of gun violence. But as the crowd dispersed, several patrol officers sent to monitor the vigil jumped into their cars to respond to a shooting less than a mile away in the 5400 block of Jamestowne Court.
NEWS
October 16, 2008
Police identify victim in Walbrook shooting Police have identified a man fatally shot on a street in the Walbrook community Tuesday night as Rubin Nelson, a 26-year-old who lived in the 3100 block of Clifton Ave. Southwestern District officers found Nelson bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds in the 1900 block of N. Rosedale St., and he was pronounced dead at the scene by city Fire Department medics. Police had no suspects and knew of no motive. Nelson was convicted on drug charges in 2002 and received a seven-year suspended sentence, and in 2003 was found not guilty on handgun charges.
NEWS
October 10, 2008
Columbia man charged in shooting death A Columbia man has been arrested in the fatal shooting Wednesday night of Tamba K. Nyorkor in the victim's apartment in the Village of Kings Contrivance. Information from witnesses led to the arrest of Evan Marcel Gaines, 18, of the 9800 block of Softwater Way, Howard County police said. After a woman called 91, officers went to the victim's home in the 9700 block of Clock Tower Lane about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and found Nyorkor, 26, dead from a bullet wound.
NEWS
By Frederick N. Rasmussen | October 3, 2008
Eugene William Pierelli, a retired attorney and longtime Ellicott City resident, died of pulmonary fibrosis Sept. 25 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 83. Born and raised in Pittston, Pa., Mr. Pierelli enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from Pittston High School in 1941. He served in the Pacific and took part in the Battle of Tinian. After being honorably discharged, he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1948 from the old Baltimore College of Commerce. In 1950, he earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Miami.
NEWS
By MELISSA HARRIS | July 29, 2008
A Baltimore Circuit Court jury convicted a man yesterday of robbing an 82-year-old woman of her pocketbook outside a KFC restaurant and stabbing her with a knife when she tried to fight back. Rozza Alston, 40, who lived three blocks from the KFC at North Avenue and St. Paul Street, was found guilty of second-degree assault, robbery with a deadly weapon and openly carrying a dangerous weapon. He faces a maximum of 33 years in prison. The jury acquitted Alston of attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
NEWS
By Kevin Rector | July 25, 2008
A 19-year-old who took part in a fatal attack on a Dundalk teen in January pleaded guilty yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court to assault and conspiracy charges. Robert L. Wood of the 1700 block of Meath Road punched Joshua Gibson, 16, in the face as the victim walked on a Dundalk street the night of Jan. 28, prosecutors said, and Gibson then was fatally shot in the face and back by a second attacker. Gibson was chosen at random by his assailants, prosecutors said. Wood pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit second-degree assault and accessory to murder after the fact in Gibson's death.