Homicide Detectives

Two women died in separate shootings Thursday in Baltimore. The killings pushed the total of homicides for the year to 165, 11 more than at the same point last year and making it unlikely the city can improve upon last year's 35-year low of 196. Twenty-five people have been killed this month, nearly one per day. A 19-year-old woman, identified Friday by police as Nana Mensah of Randallstown, was shot in the head while seated in a car parked in...

A man was fatally shot Monday afternoon in the Ellwood Park neighborhood of East Baltimore, police said.  The victim's clothing, including his shoes and other items, could be seen on the sidewalk in the 500 block of N. Decker Ave. as school children, still wearing their backpacks, looked on.  Police did not immediately identify the victim, but said he was a 25-year-old who court records show lived in the block. The shooting was reported at about 2 p.m., police said. Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

A man was shot in the 2800 block of W. Garrison Ave. in northwest Baltimore around 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Homicide detectives are investigating because of the seriousness of the shooting, said Baltimore police spokeswoman Detective Nicole Monroe. steve.kilar@baltsun.com twitter.com/stevekilar

Police on Friday identified a man killed earlier this week in Reservoir Hill and continue to search for a suspect. Andre Evans, 20, was shot to death after an argument grew into an altercation in the stairwell of a building in the 2500 block of Eutaw Place about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Baltimore police said. Homicide detectives continue to investigate the case. Early Friday, police said a man was shot in the leg in the Patterson Park neighborhood. Police have no suspects in the shooting, which took place at about 1:40 a.m. in the 100 block of S. Bouldin St. jgeorge@baltsun.com Twitter.com/justingeorge

Homicide detectives are investigating a shooting in West Baltimore that occurred about 7 p.m. Monday, potentially the first fatal shooting in more than a week in the city. The victim, a man who has not yet been identified, was shot in the jaw and leg and was in critical condition, city police said. The shooting was in the 1100 block of N. Stricker Street in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. There have been no fatal shootings in the city since Feb. 3, when two people were killed.

After facing their deadliest year, homicide detectives in both Baltimore city and county have begun tallying the victims of 1993.For the county police, the first victim of the new year was found dead early yesterday in a Woodlawn apartment -- a 60-year-old man who had been stabbed several times.Investigators said an unidentified woman called 911 at 1:54 a.m. and reported the slaying of John Gilbert Lineberger, who lived in the 100 block of Village of Pine Court. Police found his body in the hallway of his first-floor apartment.

A man was shot in Southwest Baltimore on Monday night, according to police. Homicide detectives were responding to the 3200 block of Walbrook Avenue, in the Walbrook neighborhood, shortly before 9:30 p.m., police said. Homicide detectives generally respond to scenes only when a victim has been killed or has wounds that are considered life-threatening. No further information was immediately available. krector@baltsun.com twitter.com/rectorsun

A man was fatally shot in the Waverly neighborhood shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to police. Police responded to the 3300 block of Westerwald Ave., just off 33rd Street near the former site of Memorial Stadium, about 8:54 p.m. The location is less than two blocks from Waverly Elementary/Middle School. Homicide detectives were still investigating the shooting late Wednesday night, said Detective Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. Further details were not immediately available.

Police were investigating a serious stabbing that occurred Tuesday afternoon in Southeast Baltimore.  According to preliminary information from police, the unidentified man was found stabbed at about 12:30 p.m. in the unit block of N. East Ave. in the Baltimore-Linwood neighborhood, a few blocks east of Patterson Park. His condition was not immediately known, but homicide detectives were notified. At the scene, the victim's shoes and some clothing appeared to be left behind in the middle of the street after he was taken to a local hospital.

Baltimore homicide detectives, who have been under scrutiny for a decline in the rate at which they solved murders in recent years, closed six cases Tuesday and made seven arrests, mostly by serving warrants on suspects being held on other charges. Though killings are up to start the year, police have made more arrests and have a higher clearance rate - 63 percent - than at this point last year, when 53 percent of cases had been closed. "Over the 20 years I've been in the unit, we've had some wild weekends with so many murders that we've arrested a lot of people, but to have this happen during a relatively quiet stretch, it's unusual," said Maj. Terrence McLarney, the homicide division commander.

Homicide detectives were notified late Tuesday night about a man shot multiple times in the Barclay neighborhood of Baltimore, city police said. The man was shot in the 200 block of East 22nd Street, police said. Further information about what led to the shooting or the man's identity was not immediately available. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun

Baltimore City Police say they believe road rage may have been the reason behind a fatal shooting overnight in the city. Police said that at about 2:55 a.m., they responded to the 2800 block of Erdman Avenue for a report of a shooting, and found an adult black male with multiple gun shot wounds. The victim was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced at 3:17 a.m. Police did not release the victim's identity, and also had no immediate information on a suspect. However, they said they believe the incident may have been the result of road rage.

Baltimore County prosecutors will not be allowed to use information provided by James D. Laboard's lawyer on the night that the off-duty police officer allegedly killed a Randallstown teenager, a judge ruled Friday. During a criminal motions hearing, Circuit Judge Jan Marshall Alexander ruled that the lawyer's decision to talk to detectives violated attorney-client confidentiality. Prosecutors said the ruling would have little effect on the case. Laboard, a Baltimore County police officer, is charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Christopher Brown.

City police say homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man found inside a home in Northwest Baltimore, and an assault in Curtis Bay that left a 19-year-old critically injured.  There were few details about the homicide case. Police said they were called to a home in the 4100 block of Groveland Ave. at about 8:10 p.m. for a report of a person not breathing, and found a man with "trauma to the body. " He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his identity and cause of death were pending, police said.  At 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, police said a 19-year-old man was sitting in front of a home in the 1600 block of Cypress St. with two other people when a man exchanged words with the group.

With blood still streaked on the doorway of a Southwest Baltimore home where a man was shot earlier in the morning, a woman who rented a room there nonchalantly recalled hearing the four shots. "After the first shot, I screamed and dropped to my knees and ran upstairs," said the woman, who identified herself as Cheryl Nancy, 25. Two of her four children stood on the front stoop, near a pack of cigarettes and a flask-sized bottle of vodka. It's not the first such incident of violence she's seen.

Baltimore Police say a man was stabbed to death early Sunday morning after apparently getting into an argument with two other people near the Inner Harbor. Police said the incident occurred at about 2:18 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of East Pratt Street. The victim, identified by police as a 20-year-old black male, was leaving work when two individuals approached him and became engaged in an argument. The argument escalated and the victim was stabbed multiple times in the upper body, police said.

An adult male was shot in the Pen-Lucy neighborhood Saturday night, Baltimore police said. The shooting occurred in the 4000 block of Wilsby Avenue. Officers were dispatched at 8:41 p.m., with homicide detectives responding, according to the police department. No other information was immediately available, police said. sdance@baltsun.com twitter.com/ssdance

A man and an 11-year-old boy were shot inside a house in West Baltimore on Monday night, police said. The boy is expected to survive his injuries, but homicide detectives were called to the scene because of the severity of the man's gunshot wounds. Detective Jeremy Silbert, a Baltimore police spokesman, said officers believe the two were shot in a house in the 1900 block of Bentalou Street, then the boy ran two blocks to the 2100 block of North Avenue, where officers were on foot patrol.

Though they aren't trumpeting it, the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit has made several recent arrests in killings dating back to last year.  Police spokespeople said they did not know the motives behind the crimes. The arrests are a boost to a unit whose work was questioned just last week at a hearing at City Hall. As of today, the homicide unit's clearance rate is 53 percent.  -The oldest case involves the killing of Justin Marasa, a 22-year-old from Kenya found shot in a vehicle April 8, 2012 in the 1400 block of Holbrook St. Police said William Hunt, 29, has been indicted on murder charges in the killing.  -Garrick Powell Jr., 20, of Gwynn Oak, has been charged with the killing of 21-year-old John Planters, who was found in a grassy lot in the 2200 block of Annapolis Road on Oct. 25, 2012.