Northeast Baltimore

Click here for the gallery "The Wire: Where Are they Now?" Robert F. Chew, a 52-year-old Baltimore actor and teacher who portrayed one of television's most unforgettable characters as Proposition Joe on HBO's “The Wire,” died Thursday of apparent heart failure in his sleep at his home in Northeast Baltimore, according to Clarice Chew, his sister. Mr. Chew, who appeared in “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “The Corner,” as well as “The Wire,” also taught and mentored child and young adult actors at Baltimore's Arena Players, a troupe he stayed with as his television career blossomed in David Simon HBO series.

Police investigating the robbery of a Papa John's Pizza delivery driver last March had little to go on - no identification of the suspects and no physical evidence - but they did have the phone number used to order pepperoni and bacon pies and lure out the driver. The day after the robbery, police got a court order and discovered that the owner of the phone was a Clyde Johnson from Parkville. Officers also discovered that Johnson, 23, had been arrested in connection with two prior pizza-delivery robberies and he had used his own phone to place the orders, according to Assistant State's Attorney Andrew Kowalczyk.

The two men wore body armor with "POLICE" written across the chest and spilled out of their unmarked car, weapons drawn, ordering Christopher Dukes and his passenger out of their vehicle at a South Baltimore gas station parking lot. When Dukes pulled off, they embarked on a high-speed chase down Interstate 295 until catching up and placing the pair under arrest, charging documents show. Then it was time for the real police to take over. The men in the body armor were not Baltimore police officers or federal agents, but instead a little-known classification of security guards known as "special police," who are commissioned by the city or state to arrest and detain citizens - but only on specific properties.

First a bicyclist was hit by a stray bullet last Sunday afternoon on Kirk Avenue. Then a man was shot in his car several blocks away on East 32nd Street near Lake Montebello early Monday. A half-mile from there, a man police were trying to question barricaded himself in a house Tuesday. With a flare-up of violence in his Northeast Baltimore neighborhood and other parts of the city, Mark Washington jumped into action. "How can we help?" Washington emailed Richard Worley Jr., the police major in his district.

Baltimore police have arrested and charged a 20-year-old man in a shooting they say resulted from a dispute over drugs that left a teen critically wounded on the campus of Morgan State University last week. Kelly Lamont Ellerbee of the 6000 block of Chinquapin Parkway faces attempted first-degree murder and related charges in the shooting of 19-year-old Michael Antonio Campbell at the student center. Police said Ellerbee and Campbell knew each other but would not say whether they believe Ellerbee went to the campus for the purpose of shooting Campbell or whether the two men went with each other.

Grover L. McCrea Jr., a retired college administrator and former member of the Baltimore school board who advocated the "back-to-basics" movement in education, died Friday after a heart attack at his home in Northeast Baltimore.Mr. McCrea, who was 61, retired in 1986 from Coppin State College, where he had been director of urban leadership programs since 1971. For a time, he was also assistant to the dean of continuing education.In the 1970s, he was also a consultant for B.F. and M. Recruiters Association, an area management recruiting firm for industry.

Baltimore Police have released the identity of the man who was fatally shot on Roundhill Road in Northeast Baltimore Tuesday night. The man, Eric Dozier, 25, was found lying on the sidewalk next to a vehicle at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, police said. He was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital at 12:40 a.m. There were no further updates in the case, said Baltimore Police spokesman Detective Kevin Brown. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

The 55-year-old owner of a Northeast Baltimore restaurant was found shot to death inside his business Monday morning, and police were investigating a possible robbery motive. City police confirmed the victim as Michael J. Sullivan, who court records show was a resident of Harford County and who owned Sully's Seafood & Subs in the 5500 block ofBelair Rd., which splits the city's Waltherson and Frankford neighborhoods. Officers were called to the scene at about 10:50 a.m. for what was initially characterized as a “suspicious death.” Investigators later determined Sullivan had been shot.

A 52-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the robbery and assault of an 80-year-old woman in Northeast Baltimore over the weekend, police said Sunday. The victim dropped her wallet while walking in the 7600 block of Harford Road around midday Saturday, and a man tried to grab it from her as she picked it up, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. After assaulting her during a brief struggle, the man overpowered her and ran with the wallet, Silbert said.

City police say a 27-year-old man stabbed in the neck during a stick-up in Northeast Baltimore last week has died from his injuries, while detectives were investigating a similar incident that occurred Tuesday night about a mile away in which two men were stabbed in the chest. On April 27, police say Darian Kess walked out of his apartment, in the 1200 block of Linworth Ave. in the New Northwood neighborhood, to pick up a flier to order food and was followed back inside by three men carrying handguns.

At one point during the three years that Harbor Bank of Maryland operated under heightened federal scrutiny, a regulator asked CEO Joseph Haskins Jr. why he stuck it out. Why not just retire? But for Haskins, one of the founders of the Baltimore bank in 1982, walking away was not an option. "I've grown up not running from a challenge, but facing it head on and looking to find a solution," said Haskins, 65. "And so, it isn't in my DNA to wilt under pressure. In fact, it only strengthens my resolve.

Someone's been making off with the big industrial batteries that provide backup power at traffic signals in Baltimore, and now the thefts are being investigated by the city inspector general's office, which looks into allegations of waste, fraud and abuse in municipal government. A representative of the battery's manufacturer said the thieves most likely would have tried to sell the 54-pound batteries as scrap for their lead content. Russell Conelley, an agent in the IG's office, confirmed in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that it is investigating battery thefts reported to have occurred along Harford Road in Northeast Baltimore and Wilkens Avenue in Southwest Baltimore.

A letter from a reader in Ruxton recommended a visit to a place guarded by entry gates and stone walls. Juliana C. Watts made her first trip to Baltimore Cemetery this month. She and a nephew were searching for ancestors interred there. She told me, "It sits way up there, as if the city is not there at all. " She remarked on its compelling physical beauty and character. I took the suggestion and returned to Baltimore Cemetery, a place I had not been for a decade. Baltimore Cemetery, where about 118,000 people are buried, is a place worth visiting.

A man was fatally shot in Northeast Baltimore on Monday night, the 80th homicide of 2013, police said. The man was found shot multiple times in the 3100 block of Cliftmont Avenue in the Belair-Edison neighborhood about 8:15 p.m., police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital about 45 minutes later. It is the third homicide in that neighborhood this year. Homicide detectives are investigating the case, but a suspect and motive could not immediately be determined, police said.

A man was shot in the arm Saturday evening in Northeast Baltimore, police say. Officers found the victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound in the 4900 block of Belair Road about 6:50 p.m., police said. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Police released no other information. alisonk@baltsun.com twitter.com/aliknez

City leaders assembled on a small side street near Morgan State University in Northeast Baltimore on Friday morning — steps from the sites of three recent car thefts and at least one burglary — and pledged to transform the region with cooperation from the college and community. "This is about a long-term engagement ... to bring about sustained change in the area," Morgan President David J. Wilson said in announcing the initiative, known as the "Morgan Community Mile. " It's one of a half-dozen similar efforts led by higher-education "anchor institutions" throughout the city to improve their respective environments for staff and students, but also for residents who live near the campuses.