Gunshot

Six years after being indicted for manslaughter in the shooting death of an apparently unarmed teen-ager, and minutes before the start of his second trial, Baltimore police officer Edward T. Gorwell II was unexpectedly cleared yesterday when new evidence emerged in the case.Surprised city prosecutors decided to drop the charges, but left open the possibility that Gorwell might be charged again.Gorwell has always contended that he heard a gunshot and fired in self-defense when he killed 14-year-old Simmont Donta Thomas on April 17, 1993.

A mother who had just picked up her young son at a Cherry Hill elementary school was shot in the shoulder yesterday afternoon across the street from the red brick building -- apparently hit by a stray bullet.Police said Alesn Martin, 28, who lives about four blocks from the school, was walking with her child and did not see who fired the shot. She told detectives she heard one gunshot and felt a pain in the back of her right shoulder.Martin ran back into the front entrance of Carter G. Woodson El- ementary and school staff called police.

A 42-year-old Westminster man who suffered a gunshot wound late Tuesday has declined to tell investigators what happened, authorities said yesterday.Tyson W. Brandenburg of East George Street was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where he was expected to be released today, police said.The incident occurred on a Sullivan Avenue parking lot about 11: 30 p.m. Police were notified by medical officials after Brandenberg sought treatment for the wound to his left leg at Carroll County General Hospital about 1 a.m. yesterday, police said.

Annapolis police are investigating the shooting of an Ohio man outside the Kneseth Israel Synagogue late Sunday.Police found Mark Hounshell, 35, in the parking lot about 11 p.m. with gunshot wounds to his legs and right arm, police said. Residents had called police after hearing gunshots near the synagogue, at 1125 Spa Road, authorities said.Hounshell was flown to the Shock Trauma Center at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, where he was listed yesterday in fair condition. The man, who lives in northeast Cleveland in an area called Willowick, had been in Annapolis for a family reunion.

A Baltimore man on his way to a college basketball game was shot fatally, and a friend was wounded critically during an argument at a stoplight in the 1500 block of Russell Street yesterday afternoon, police said.David Brown, 23, of the 1200 block of Pearleaf Court in Baltimore died of gunshot wounds, and Robert Frazier, 22, of the 3500 block of Old York Road in Baltimore underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest at University of Maryland Medical Center, police said.

A teen-ager who surrendered to police yesterday was charged with fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl, another young victim of the violence that increasingly is claiming Baltimore's children.Police said Bryant Edward Howard, 18, of the 700 block of N. Grantley St., turned himself in to the Eastern District police station, and was charged with first-degree murder.A homicide detective said investigators do not believe the suspect's story that he accidentally shot the girl, whom he knew. "We're not considering it an accident," said Lt. Wendell France.

Baltimore homicide detectives were close-mouthed yesterday, trying to piece together details of execution-style shootings Saturday night that left two men dead and one critically injured in an apartment in a quiet part of Forest Park.All three men had been tied with duct tape before being shot, police sources said.Two of the men shot were cousins. One of them, the survivor, managed to crawl to a telephone and call police despite serious wounds. He was apparently under close police guard at an undisclosed location last night.

WASHINGTON -- Legislation that would double the excise tax on handguns and earmark the proceeds for a fund to help pay for the treatment of uninsured gunshot victims may reach the House floor months earlier than expected.A House Ways and Means panel yesterday considered attaching the measure, sponsored by Rep. Mel Reynolds, D-Ill., to a miscellaneous tax bill that could be put to a House vote within a couple of weeks. The action puts the bill on a fast track for approval by circumventing the usual committee hearings that can delay legislation.

CATONSVILLE -- Around 10 p.m. last night, patrons in King's Palace tavern in the 100 block Winters Lane heard gunshots and went outside to investigate.They found a may lying on a grassy knoll in the 6000 block of Booker Road, a short distance from the tavern.Pronounced dead at the scene from at least two gunshot wounds to the torso was Gilbert Martin Hankis, 32, of the 100 block of Egges Lane in Catonsville.The scene of the shooting was several blocks from the victim's home.Police said they had determined no motive for the fatal shooting and had no one in custody.

A 2-year-old boy was cut by flying glass early today when he the car in which he was riding was hit by a gunshot, Baltimore police said.The victim, David Rostad III of Gettysburg, Pa., was treated at Mercy Medical Center for a deep cut to his head. He was released at 2:45 a.m.Police said the boy was riding in a child seat in the back of his father's car.His father, David Rostad II, said he was traveling in the 1100 block of E. Fayette St. about 12:30 a.m. when he saw a flash of light coming from the area of Lafayette Court Apartments and heard a gunshot.

Throughout her 23 years in Cherry Hill, Taneal Munson has become familiar with the sound of gunshots. So have her sons, ages 6 and 8. But Monday night, just as the boys had finished their evening bath, never had the family heard them so close, so loud. "My sister yelled from downstairs, `Get the kids and get down on the floor!'" Munson said. "It was like a big pop. I knew it was a gunshot. Fireworks don't sound like that." Yesterday, family members broke the news to the boys - the gunshot had struck and killed Edward Smith, 14, known affectionately in the neighborhood by his nickname, "Milkman."

A Glyndon woman shot in a domestic dispute was in serious condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, while police identified another woman, who apparently killed herself after the initial shooting. Amalia Palmeiro, 42, of the 200 block of Pennington Ave. was found dead in the driveway of her home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a dispute with Candace Treadway, 44, of the same address, officials said. According to police, shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday police received a call for shots fired in the 200 block of Pennington Ave., officials said.

Police say gunshots killed 2 Two men found dead early Sunday in an Owings Mills apartment died of gunshot wounds, police said yesterday. Howard Thacker, Jr., 35, and his nephew Dante Rodney Thacker, 17, were found dead about 4:15 a.m. in their apartment in the 100 block of Village Mill Court, police said. Detectives think robbery might have been the motive, county police said. Police have no suspects, said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Vickie Warehime. Anyone with information can call the Baltimore County police at 410- 307-2020.

A 64-year-old former Baltimore police officer fatally shot his 46-year-old wife and then himself at the couple's Brooklyn Park home yesterday morning, Anne Arundel County police said. Their 19-year-old daughter, who was in the home at the time, called 911 after she heard a gunshot and saw her father, Floyd Ray Lilly, with a .38-caliber Colt revolver, said county police spokesman Lt. Joseph E. Jordan. The daughter and her fiance live at her parents' one-story Haile Avenue home near Brooklyn Park Middle School.

A White House Secret Service officer's 3-year-old son was upgraded to serious condition yesterday, three days after the boy apparently shot himself with the service weapon that his father left atop the refrigerator in their Elkridge home. Kenneth Bouley Jr. had been in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore since a gunshot from a .357-caliber semiautomatic struck his upper abdomen Friday. Howard County police said yesterday that the gunshot appears to have been self-inflicted.

City homicide detectives yesterday continued investigating two separate weekend slayings of two East Baltimore teens. In the first, residents called police to the 3300 block of Elgin Ave. in West Baltimore about 10:30 p.m. Friday after hearing gunshots. Police found 16-year-old Michael King of the 1000 block of Patterson Park Ave. on a porch on the 3300 block of Elgin Ave. with multiple gunshot wounds. Frances Bowman said she had just gone to sleep when she heard several shots. She then heard the sounds of someone stumbling and crashing into her living room window.

Six years after being indicted for manslaughter in the shooting death of an apparently unarmed teen-ager, and minutes before the start of his second trial, Baltimore police officer Edward T. Gorwell II was unexpectedly cleared yesterday when new evidence emerged in the case.Surprised city prosecutors decided to drop the charges, but left open the possibility that Gorwell might be charged again.Gorwell has always contended that he heard a gunshot and fired in self-defense when he killed 14-year-old Simmont Donta Thomas on April 17, 1993.

A 42-year-old Westminster man who suffered a gunshot wound late Tuesday has declined to tell investigators what happened, authorities said yesterday.Tyson W. Brandenburg of East George Street was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where he was expected to be released today, police said.The incident occurred on a Sullivan Avenue parking lot about 11: 30 p.m. Police were notified by medical officials after Brandenberg sought treatment for the wound to his left leg at Carroll County General Hospital about 1 a.m. yesterday, police said.

A mother who had just picked up her young son at a Cherry Hill elementary school was shot in the shoulder yesterday afternoon across the street from the red brick building -- apparently hit by a stray bullet.Police said Alesn Martin, 28, who lives about four blocks from the school, was walking with her child and did not see who fired the shot. She told detectives she heard one gunshot and felt a pain in the back of her right shoulder.Martin ran back into the front entrance of Carter G. Woodson El- ementary and school staff called police.

Annapolis police are investigating the shooting of an Ohio man outside the Kneseth Israel Synagogue late Sunday.Police found Mark Hounshell, 35, in the parking lot about 11 p.m. with gunshot wounds to his legs and right arm, police said. Residents had called police after hearing gunshots near the synagogue, at 1125 Spa Road, authorities said.Hounshell was flown to the Shock Trauma Center at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, where he was listed yesterday in fair condition. The man, who lives in northeast Cleveland in an area called Willowick, had been in Annapolis for a family reunion.