Gunman

Two Baltimore men, accused of beating a man into critical condition after he shot their friend in a downtown hotel room, were released on their own recognizance by a District Judge Monday. Dominic Anderson, 22, and Abdullah Omar, 21, are charged with first- and second-degree attempted murder in the beating of 19-year-old Raymond Woodland, who is accused of shooting their friend in the face during an argument at a birthday party at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel. According to charging documents, Anderson wrestled a TEC-9 semiautomatic firearm away from Woodland, then stood on the bed and struck him repeatedly with it in the face and head while Omar held him in a "sleeper hold."

Two men remain hospitalized and three face charges in the wake of a birthday party in a downtown hotel that ended violently early Sunday, with one party-goer shot by a semi-automatic pistol and the shooter allegedly disarmed and badly beaten by others in the crowd, police said. Police said they intend to charge Raymond Woodland, a 19-year-old from West Baltimore, with first- and second-degree attempted murder if he recovers and is released from the hospital. Woodland was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

The murder weapon, a sawed-off shotgun that killed Jason Batts during a botched robbery, was found in pieces at different locations. The witnesses, a bit shaky in their testimony when the first of three separate trials began, became more comfortable and credible on the stand. The juries, for three different men involved in Batts' death in May 2008, would all return guilty verdicts. When Howard County Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman told Lamont Johnson on Tuesday that he would be going to jail for the rest of his life with no chance of parole - plus an additional 30 years - it ended a 19-month process that saw two others, Ronald McConnell and Daymar Wimbish, handed long sentences as well.

Police in Howard County were looking Thursday for a gunman who tried to hold up a Jiffy Lube station in Elkridge and fired a shot at fleeing employees. He missed and no one was injured. According to police, a man entered the business on the 6200 block of Washington Blvd. about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, pointed a gun at an employee and demanded money. The employee ran out of the building through a back door. Police said the man then entered the garage and pointed the weapon at several other employees.

I got to see crime in Baltimore up close Tuesday night. A little too close. After the Police Department refused an official ride-along, Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton and I arranged to tour the streets with two union officials, Bob Cherry and Gene Ryan. Given the fact that homicides in the city occur almost daily (and shootings even more frequently), I should not have been surprised that our first call was to a report of a man shot in a car in West Baltimore. The victim, 28-year-old Joseph Leegreen Taylor, was not dead when we arrived.

Officials have identified the man who shot and wounded a county police officer responding to a report of a domestic disturbance in Overlea. Edward Paul Boss, 47, then was slain by other officers responding to the distress call in the 6800 block of Highview Ave., where Boss lived, according to a spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department. The wounded officer, who returned fire after being shot in the shoulder, was identified as Officer Parker, who has been a member of the Parkville force for 23 years and who is assigned to the Parkville precinct.

A man who police said was motivated by a dispute over his estranged wife walked into a direct-mail company Friday in eastern Baltimore County and fatally shot the owner, according to a colleague of the dead man who was a few feet away when the gunman opened fire. As employees fled through a side door, Dennis Leon McLaughlin, 45, walked out the building's main entrance, put the gun to his temple and fired, another witness said. McLaughlin was pronounced dead an hour later at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Police reports in Baltimore city and county: Southeastern Baltimore Assault: Police arrested a man about 7 p.m. Thursday moments after he was seen spraying the windows of moving vehicles with a chemical irritant on East Pratt Street near the Perkins Homes. One female motorist suffered a minor eye injury when sprayed. Ground units, aided by the crew of a police helicopter, captured the man on South Caroline Street near Gough Street. Assault charges were pending. Northeastern Baltimore Arrests: Two men were arrested shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, moments after a man was fatally shot in the 3400 block of Cliftmont Ave. The two have been charged with unlawful possession of a handgun.