Essex

Two men confronted another man in an Essex barbershop Wednesday afternoon and shot him, police said. Baltimore County police responded at 2:34 p.m. to the business in the 600 block of S. Marlyn Ave., near Homberg Street and Deep Creek. A 39-year-old man had been injured and he has been taken to an area hospital for treatment. His injuries were not life threatening. The motive for the shooting is still under investigation, police said. Police placed schools in the area on alert status as a precautionary measure.

Two women and one man were shot in an incident at a bar in Essex early Friday morning, according to Baltimore County Police. Officers responded to the Loft bar in the 100 block of Back River Neck Road at about 12:03 a.m. for reports of gunfire and found one woman suffering from a gunshot wound, according to police. Another woman and a man suffering from gunshot wounds in the same incident later arrived at an area hospital for treatment, police said. None of the victims are considered to have life-threatening injuries, police said.

A fire official says one person was transported to a hospital after a white powder was discovered at an Essex office that processes census forms. Baltimore County Fire Department Lt. John Milby said crews spent about 3 1/2 hours on scene and collected some of the material for testing. He said there were "some reports of some skin irritation." Milby said officials got a 911 call at 11 o'clock but it was not clear what symptoms the person taken to the hospital had. - Associated Press

The Essex man killed Sunday in Northwest Baltimore's Forest Park neighborhood may have been involved in an illicit drug deal, police said. Richard Erdek, 33, of Valley Orb Court, was found at 3:38 p.m. in an alley behind the 3900 of block Woodhaven Ave., near Garrison Boulevard. He was unresponsive from a gunshot wound to the chest when police located him in the driver's seat of his vehicle. The victim was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:16 p.m., police said.

Baltimore County police charged an Essex man Monday with stabbing his girlfriend after officers found her body wrapped in a blanket on his kitchen floor. Police say John W. Falkenstein Jr. of Essex stabbed Janet Palasik, 48, after the two got into an argument. Palasik's daughter had called 911 Monday to have officers to check on her mother who had gone to Falkenstein's home in the 700 block of Myrth Ave. on Nov. 4, police said. Officers spoke to Falkenstein at the home, and found Palasik, of the 1100 block of Maple Road in Essex, on the kitchen floor covered with a blanket.

A 19-year-old was stabbed by a juvenile in Essex on Wednesday night, police said. The teen was stabbed in his left side and was taken to Johns Hopkins Baywview Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries, said Lt. Robert McCullough, spokesman with the Baltimore County Police. The incident, which occurred in a residential area in the 800 block of Arncliffe Road at about 8:07 p.m., grew out of an argument, McCullough said. No additional details were available Wednesday night.

Baltimore County firefighters recovered a body out of Hopkins Creek in Essex on Wednesday, near the River Watch Restaurant & Marina. A spokeswoman for the fire department could not say whether the victim was a man or a woman, but said that the cause of death was drowning. She said a call came in shortly before 1:30 p.m. about a body in the water off the 200 block of Nanticoke Road, and help was dispatched from Engine 231, a volunteer fire unit in Middleborough, and two vessels from the department's marine division.

Baltimore County Police have identified a woman who died Friday while in police custody after an altercation. Officers responded to a report that a woman had taken a shirt and another item from a car near Hawthorne Road and Eastern Boulevard, according to police. The first officer spoke to the woman, Mary Beth Crocker, 41, of the first block of Ridgemoor Road, but then Crocker turned and ran. The officer caught her, but Crocker began assaulting the officer, stabbing him with a pen and attempting to grab his weapon, police said.

Baltimore County police have arrested an 18-year-old Essex man, charging him with the attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of an off-duty police officer. Michael Jabateh, 18, of the 100 block of Commodore Drive, faces eight charges and is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center in connection with the shooting of Officer Moorer on Dec. 9 outside an Overlea party. Officials did not release Moorer's first name. Jabateh was arrested on Thursday after police conducted a surveillance operation in the 100 block of Orville Road in Essex.