Man Standing

2, one in wheelchair, fatally shot in city Two men - one of them in a wheelchair - were fatally shot yesterday in separate and apparently unrelated Baltimore homicides, city police said. In the first of yesterday's killings, Milburn Henson, 42, of the 100 block of N. Eutaw St., was in a wheelchair in front of a house in the 1900 block of Edmondson Ave. about 11:40 a.m. when he was shot in the head. Henson was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died about 3 p.m. A 911 call at 2:46 p.m. brought Northwestern District officers to the 3200 block of Oakfield Ave., where they found two men. One of them had been shot in the upper body and died at Sinai Hospital.

It's not who you know or what you know or even how you use it, but whether you're willing to test it in a matter of life or death. That's the ultimate challenge for most people, yet the daily challenge for the hero of Hotel Rwanda, Terry George's enraging and enthralling fact-based movie about the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), who manages a four-star Kigali hotel, understands everyone and everything about his country except its capacity for evil. When he can't escape that evil he combats it with rationality.

IN A CITY that lost star forward Ron Artest for an entire season and two other Pacers to long-term suspensions after the biggest, most embarrassing player/fan brawl in the history of the NBA, there were boos for Peyton Manning. Talk about something lost in translation. You can understand fans wanting to witness NFL history, but not when disappointment trumps appreciation for a classy act of sportsmanship. They love their football so much in Indianapolis, the city will spend $800 million for a new NFL stadium.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin this morning in Howard County Circuit Court in the first-degree murder trial of a Prince George's County man accused of murdering a pregnant Columbia woman. Yesterday, lawyers selected jurors - eight men and four women - to hear the case against Tjane Charmeise Marshall that is expected to last one to two weeks. Lawyers chose three alternate jurors, all women. Marshall 28, of the 3900 block of Coach Lane in Suitland, is accused of killing 23-year-old Shameka Fludd, who was found shot in the head in her Stevens Forest apartment in Columbia's Oakland Mills Village in May last year.

A 22-year-old Linthicum man standing on Interstate 95 in Howard County was killed at 3 a.m. yesterday by a passing truck, forcing closure of the road for more than three hours and resulting in long traffic jams. State police at the Waterloo barracks identified the dead man as David J. Baker, and said his car was found parked on the southbound side of the highway two miles north of the accident, which took place on northbound I-95, between Routes 175 and 32. Police said Baker was wearing dark clothing and standing in the middle of the four-lane highway.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Western District Armed robbery: A gunman stepped out of a red car in the 1800 block of W. Lafayette Ave. about 11 p.m. Wednesday, approached a man standing on the sidewalk and robbed him of $11 and a cell phone valued at $150. The robber ordered the man to "keep walking," got back in his car, made a U-turn and drove away. Robbery/shooting: A 46-year-old man was walking in the 900 block of N. Monroe St. about 7:45 p.m. Monday when a man placed a gun to the back of his head and demanded money.

Colleagues or patients who know psychologist Steven Sobelman may be forgiven if they sense something familiar while reading best-selling author David Baldacci's latest novel. Called Last Man Standing, and ranked No. 4 on the New York Times best-seller list last week, it tells the story of Web London, a member of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team who decides to seek help from a psychiatrist. And while there's little physical resemblance between the Towson-based psychologist and Claire Daniels, the fictional psychiatrist invented by Baldacci, Sobelman played a guiding role in her creation.

A 46-year-old Anne Arundel County man was found shot to death next to his car yesterday on a leaf-strewn street in Bolton Hill, city police said. Three men were seen fleeing from the car about 5 a.m. after Myron Lee Chase was shot once in the head, police said. Chase, a resident of the 600 block of Queenstown Road in Severn, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Police said Chase might have been operating an unlicensed taxicab - known as a hack - and said the assailants were likely in his Ford Contour before the shooting.

LANDOVER - A 20-year-old Landover man was shot and critically wounded yesterday by Prince George's County police after he allegedly opened fire on two officers. Police say the officers responded to a call of a man with a gun in the 3400 block of Dodge Park Road around 6:35 p.m. A man standing in a parking lot there fired, police said, and the officers returned fire, hitting the suspect in the head and abdomen. The suspect, identified by police as James Anthony Williams, was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center, where he was in critical condition last night.

A Frederick chemist accused of trying to poison a former co-worker with mercury will have two separate trials - one on the assault charges stemming from the incident, the other on stalking and harassment charges, a Howard County Circuit Court judge has ruled. Judge James B. Dudley agreed to Alan Bruce Chmurny's request to try on different trial dates six counts related to the poisoning attempt itself and two counts stemming from investigators' attempts to identify the chemist as a suspect.