Mondawmin

Northwest Baltimore was the scene of the city's 76th and 77th homicides of the year yesterday, when two men were gunned down in the 4000 block of Mondawmin Ave. shortly after midnight. By comparison, the homicide toll in Baltimore was 69 on April 18 of last year, police said. When authorities responded to a call about gunshots about 12:45 a.m. yesterday, they found the bodies of Wayne Duke Cavanaugh, 40, and an unidentified man, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. The men had been shot several times and were dead at the scene, Monroe said.

Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall will be expanding with three new stores in newly constructed space that will replace the former Motor Vehicles Administration building, the mall announced today. A Ross Dress for Less, a Deal$ and a smaller, yet-to-be-named store will move into a 38,000-square-foot redevelopment on the site of the MVA building, which is being demolished. “Mondawmin Mall has been an integral part of the Greater Mondawmin community for more than 50 years,"  said Romaine Smallwood-Smoot, the mall's general manager, in a statement.

Two men, at least one of them armed, robbed an armored car courier of a bag of money yesterday as he walked out of the Motor Vehicle Administration office at Mondawmin Mall, Baltimore police said.As they fled, a 74-year-old security guard fired twice, possibly hitting one of the robbers. The incident began when the Loomis Armored Inc. courier carrying a bag of money was leaving the foyer of the crowded office about 4 p.m. One man approached him brandishing a handgun and the other came from behind and took the bag, the police said.

City police have identified the man and woman who were found dead in a burning car in West Baltimore early Friday. Alysia Strickland, 33, of the 600 block of Dover Street and Taewon Tuck, 34, of the 2000 block of N. Bentalou Street were both found dead with gunshot wounds to the head, police said. The fire was noticed around 5 a.m. Friday in the 2000 block of N. Monroe Street in the Mondawmin neighborhood, fire officials said. The car was thought to have been in the alley behind 1800 block of Clifton Ave. Strickland was the daughter of retired Roanoke County circuit judge Diane Strickland and Art Strickland, an attorney with the firm Strickland, Diviney, & Strelka in Roanoke, Va. Art Strickland's practice areas include products liability, criminal defense and personal injury, according to his firm's website.

MONDAWMIN is five Metro stops away from downtown, six stops from Owings Mills. Within a one-mile radius of the shopping mall, it's possible to attend school from kindergarten to college. So why are the Mondawmin-area neighborhoods, despite their solid housing stock and leafy gardens, experiencing some of the same uncertainties and blight that are afflicting so many other city areas? A recently released 64-page survey suggests some of the reasons: an aging population; the lack of new investment; apathy.

Target Corp. will present the city's design panel this week with plans for what would be its first Baltimore store at Mondawmin Mall. The retailer, known for its "cheap chic" styles, is listed as the big-box anchor for the mall on the latest agenda of the city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel scheduled to meet Thursday. The Minnesota-based retail chain didn't return calls last night. A spokesman for General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based developer that owns Mondawmin, confirmed that the retailer would present "exterior designs" for a new store at the meeting.

A day after reports that Giant Food Inc. wants to open a supermarket at Mondawmin Mall, Henry Baines, president of the competing Stop Shop and Save grocery store there, pledged to stay at the West Baltimore shopping center "for another 23 years."Baines said that despite what he called the Rouse Co.'s attempts to force him out to make way for the Giant store, he has a valid lease that will keep him at Mondawmin, which Rouse owns, well into the next century."They said that they wanted to put another supermarket there," Baines said.

A man jumped in front of a Metro train as it was arriving at the Mondawmin station last night, apparently the first suicide in the rail system's 14-year history.The man, whose name had not been released late last night, apparently jumped from the platform of the underground station into the path of the westbound train shortly after 10 p.m., said Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Giotis.The man died about 10: 45 p.m., after being trapped for about 40 minutes under the middle car of the five-car train, Giotis said.

The MVA employee accused of passing two fraudulent state driver's licenses to the 18-year-old suspect in a murder and abduction spree is under protective police custody after being granted immunity from prosecution, according to a police source.In turn, the employee has started to detail a more widespread scheme to provide illegal documents like driver's licenses and Motor Vehicle Administration identification cards, said the source, who is close to the investigation and has requested anonymity.

Three months ago, the Rouse Co. offered Stop Shop and Save grocery chain President Henry T. Baines an undisclosed amount of money to close his store at Mondawmin Mall as Rouse prepared to bring in a larger supermarket there."

City confirmed Saturday that a man and a woman whose bodies were found in a burning car in West Baltimore early Friday morning had been shot. Police said it was still not clear whether they were killed by bullets or the fire and had no more information on the cause of the blaze. The fire was discovered at about 5 a.m. in the 2000 block of N. Monroe St. in the Mondawmin neighborhood, fire officials said. "Whether or not they are fire victims or otherwise has to be determined by the state medical examiner," Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said Friday.

When snowflakes began falling Monday afternoon, the commotion near Mondawmin Mall slowed. Children pointed to the sky. Shoppers, their shoulders previously hunched against the cold, stood to take in the scene. Inside, shoppers buzzed through stores buying last-minute gifts, extra wrapping paper or the final ingredients for holiday meals and desserts. At The Esquire barber shop, men and boys waited for a chair and a fresh cut while talking of Christmas Eve church trips and parties ahead.

A man was shot in West Baltimore on Monday evening, not far from Mondawmin Mall, according to city police. Homicide detectives responded to the scene because of the severity of the man's injuries, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman. Officers on a routine patrol of the area about 7:40 p.m. heard gunshots coming from the 1700 block of Gwynn Falls Parkway, in the city's Parkview/Woodbrook neighborhood, and responded, police said. At the location, which is between Mondawmin Mall and Druid Hill Park, they found a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound, police said.

City police are investigating a double shooting Monday night in the Mondawmin neighborhood that has left a man and a woman hospitalized. Both victims are expected to survive, police said. Officers, responding at 9:45 p.m. to reports of gunfire, found a 26-year-old woman suffering from a wound to her leg. She told police she had been shot in the 2000 block of McKean Avenue, near Walbrook Avenue. While investigating the incident, officers were alerted to a second shooting victim in the neighborhood.

If the trailer for "Luv" is any indication, Baltimore is about to get itself some serious screen time. In the just-released teaser for the movie starring Common, Baltimore is everywhere -- there are glimpses of any number of city neighborhoods including Mount Vernon, the Inner Harbor and Domino Sugar, the Howard Street bridge and what looks like Druid Hill Park. Of course, it's unclear if city boosters will be cheering for this one since, subject-matter-wise, it seems cut from the same drug and gun-themed cloth as "The Wire.

R&B singer and Baltimore native Mario will appear at Mondawmin Mall Wednesday at a teen summit. The event is open to young people citywide and attendees will have a chance to ask the star questions. Other "celebrities" appearing on the panel include: Ray Lucas, president of 100 Black Men Baltimore chapter Sonja, a former 92 Q disc jockey Keion Carpenter - a former NFL Atlanta Falcon who's from Baltimore              Tori Nelson - middleweight women's boxing champion  The release also lists mall General Manager Romaine Smallwood-Smoot as one of the attractions.

The Maryland Transit Administration announced yesterday the first of seven state grants to revitalize Baltimore transit hubs, awarding Greater Mondawmin $120,000 to develop a small urban park memorializing the area's Jewish past and African-American present. Modeled after pocket parks in New York and Washington, the 4,300-square-foot triangular strip at Liberty Heights Avenue and Reisterstown Road is across from the Mondawmin transit center. Its centerpiece will be a memorial wall commemorating the lives of prominent Baltimore Jews and African-Americans.

The landscape in the Mondawmin community in West Baltimore resembles many other city areas: Walk down one street, and you'll find nice homes with neatly kept lawns. Walk down another street -- sometimes a block away -- and you're greeted by boarded-up houses, trash, graffiti and open-air drug markets. In an effort to improve the area, Earl Arnett, Pearl Moulton and other community leaders are working on a 10-year master plan that they say will identify problems and offer solutions. Arnett has applied for a $3,500 state grant to pay five teen-agers and an adult supervisor to pick up trash from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays for 12 weeks beginning July 2, he said.

It's a new season and the University of Maryland Medical System officials say it's a good time to take stock of your health. They are offering free screenings for cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and more. The screenings will be offered at Mondawmin Mall , 2401 Liberty Heights Ave., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday. The event, called Spring Into Good Health, is in its fourth year. Hundreds of people are expected to get the tests, as well as get information on men's and women's health, child safety, nutrition and other topics.