Kitchen Knife

"I hope my baby is dead. " These are the chilling words from a mother who is now charged with repeatedly stabbing her 8-month-old child during a supervised visit with a social service's worker. The account comes from police charging documents filed in court that detail the horrific incident. Social workers rushed to help the child, and one threw a chair at her, forcing her to drop the baby, the knife still in her neck. One worker told police she confronted the suspect as she held her daughter on a table with one hand and the knife in the other.

A man posing as a job-seeker pulled a gun on employees at Boston Market in Glen Burnie Thursday and stole an undisclosed amount of money.Police said the man entered the restaurant in the 7900 block of Ritchie Highway shortly after 9 p.m. and asked for an employment application. He talked with employees and filled out the application until the store's 10 p.m. closing time, when he went to the bathroom, police said.He returned and said the toilet wasn't working. When an employee went to to check, the man pulled out a handgun and ordered the employee to escort him to the manager, police said.

A Baltimore police officer shot and killed a man early yesterday, moments after the man fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend with a kitchen knife on the sidewalk outside her West Baltimore home, authorities said. Lequisha I. Truitt, 28, of the 2500 block of W. Baltimore St. died there in front of her 8-year-old daughter, police said. The man, Ditania E. Kane, 28, of the 4400 block of Manorview Road, died at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. Southwestern District Officer Andrea Curtis, who fired the shot, was reassigned to administration duties pending an internal investigation, police said.

A 38-year-old homeless man charged in the stabbing death of a University of Maryland dental student denied being involved yesterday as a judge ordered him held without bail until his trial. David Edward Terry sat motionless as the brief proceeding unfolded in Wabash District Court and a clerk summarized a crime that stunned the Ridgelys Delight neighborhood near the city's professional sports stadiums. At the end of the hearing, Terry said, "I didn't do that. I was at my aunt's house."

A series of safety improvements are in the works at Maryland social services offices after an infant girl was allegedly stabbed by her mother during a supervised visit this spring, state officials said last week. The child, Pretty Diamond, who is about a year old now, has recovered from her physical wounds and is in a "loving and safe home," state human resources secretary Theodore Dallas said. Her mother, Kenisha Thomas, is scheduled for trial Oct. 29 for attempted murder, assault, child abuse and related charges.

A Baltimore police officer shot and killed a man moments after the man fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend with a kitchen knife on the sidewalk outside her West Baltimore home early yesterday, city police said. Lequisha I. Truitt, 28, of the 2500 block of W. Baltimore St. died at the scene in front of her 8-year-old daughter, police said. Authorities declined to identify the man, saying they were awaiting confirmation of his identity through fingerprints. The police officer, Andrea Curtis of the Southwestern District, joined the force in 1999.

An Annapolis man was beaten, tied up and robbed Thursday when he walked into his home and surprised a burglar, county police said.Robert M. Judge, 56, entered his house near Quiet Waters Park about 2: 30 p.m. and was attacked from behind by a man who beat him on the head with what police believe was Judge's .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol -- the only item stolen from the house.Judge told police he pleaded for his safety, but the man continued to hit him. The man then took Judge to the living room, tied his hands with electrical cord and ran away.

Those who work near Amir Shahmaee's pizza and sub shop in Owings Mills remembered him yesterday as a friendly man who often gave odd jobs to people that others might not hire. Shahmaee was fatally stabbed yesterday in his Reisterstown Road restaurant. Baltimore County police said they arrested a former employee in the crime. Otis Andrew Spence, 21, of the 8800 block of Green Needle Drive in White Marsh was charged with first-degree murder, police said last night. Spence was being held without bond, police said.

A police officer serving a routine burglary warrant inside a Northeast Baltimore house shot and killed the suspect yesterday morning, officials said, after the man lunged at the officer with a kitchen knife in a cramped, second-floor bathroom. The city's second fatal shooting by an officer in as many days prompted Commissioner Edward T. Norris to visit the scene on Montpelier Street in Clifton Park and talk to residents upset about police use of deadly force. The dead man was identified as Raymond Askins, 39. He is the eighth person to be shot by a city police officer this year, and the fourth to die - equaling in five months the number of people killed by police in all of last year.

Chesapeake Knife & Tool stores are like the Swiss Army knives that line their shelves: They are easily accessible, compact, and have a variety of toys and tools tucked in every corner. That design has been a secret of success for the Columbia-based chain of 19 stores - one of the largest chains of specialty cutlery stores in the country - and it's the formula that founder Mel Herman hopes will propel the 23-year-old company forward. Chesapeake Knife & Tool has grown for several years at a pace of nearly one store a year, but next year, if the economy stabilizes or improves, the company might add three or four new locations, Herman said.