Northeast Baltimore

The 80-year-old man killed in Northeast Baltimore on Monday - after a punch caused him to fall and hit his head, police said - was the inspiration for the 1990s TV show "Roc. " John Wood formed the basis for the lead character on the Fox show portrayed by Baltimore actor Charles S. Dutton. Dutton grew up in Wood's neighborhood, and in the show portrayed a trash worker who believed in an honest day's work and went beyond his means to help his neighbors. Wood retired as a Baltimore sanitation worker after more than 35 years, his wife said.

One man was killed and two others injured in separate shooting incidents overnight across the city, police said. The fatal shooting occurred about 6:45 a.m. Sunday in the 1600 block of E. 29th St. in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood in Northeast Baltimore. Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman, said the man was shot at least once and taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died in the afternoon. Police identified the man Monday as Dwight Cook, 28, of the same block, but provided no additional information, including a possible motive in the shooting.

Gerald J. Curran, a member of a well-known political family who represented Northeast Baltimore neighborhoods in the Maryland House of Delegates, died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He was 74 and lived in Lauraville. "Gerry was the epitome of a classic Irish personality, full of fun, love and courage," said former Speaker of the House Casper R. Taylor, who lives in Cumberland. "I am going to miss one of my dearest friends, but I know the Curran family will carry on his legacy.

Edna Rudell, who began selling homemade chocolate bunnies outside the Northeast Market and went on to co-own Fallston's Log Cabin Chocolates, died of congestive heart failure March 6 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Jacksonville resident was 90. Born Edna Rose Himler, she was the daughter of John Himler, a city police officer, and Sara McCleester, who died when Mrs. Rudell was very young. She was placed in an orphanage at age 2 and remained there until her father remarried. "My mother was a survivor," said her daughter, Annette Armstrong.

Relatives and friends of a young mother killed by a stray bullet on Labor Day weekend urged witnesses Saturday to come forward and help Baltimore police solve the crime. "People are little bit afraid," to talk to police, said Geron Mills, 23, as he and others gathered to note the six-month mark since LaRelle Ashlyn Amos died. "But you've got to put yourself in our shoes. " The 22-year-old Amos was shot Sept. 2, one victim of a bloody Baltimore weekend that saw 10 other people injured by gunfire and five more killed.

Janice Jackson remembers being a 20-something flirting with the young men who worked at the Baltimore rehabilitation center where she visited her brother as he was recovering from a car accident that left him paralyzed. Three years later, they would be the same attendants responsible for bathing her after she was hit by a car and paralyzed. The men hadn't done anything wrong, said Jackson, now 53, but she felt humiliated by a loss of dignity. That experience, Jackson said, revealed her life's purpose and led her to the White House on Friday, where President Barack Obama recognized her with the nation's second-highest civilian honor, the Citizens Medal, for the network she built to help hundreds of disabled women in Maryland feel empowered, beautiful and capable of dreaming.

Rodney Hawkins graduated from Lake Clifton last spring with no college plans and “nothing at all” happening in his basketball recruitment. The 6-foot-7 forward had moved back to Baltimore for his senior season after a three-year stint in Georgia, where his mother was transferred for her military job. But although he played well for the Lakers, college interest never came. “I didn't know what I was going to do,” Hawkins said. “I wasn't surprised, this being my first time coming back.” Last fall, however, Hawkins' recruitment picked up considerably thanks to him joining Mt. Zion Prep, a first-year post-grad program in Northeast Baltimore.

Three teens were stabbed, one fatally, in downtown Baltimore Tuesday afternoon, near the route of the parade celebrating the Ravens Super Bowl victory, police said. Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the stabbing occurred around 1:30 p.m. near the intersection of North Howard and West Fayette streets. He said one of the three victims, a juvenile, went into cardiac arrest and was rushed into surgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, where the youth died. The other two stabbing victims were taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Police on Thursday identified the man found fatally shot in Northeast Baltimore two days ago. Travis Jennings, 29, who lived in the 1600 block of N. Warwick Avenue, was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He had been found by police in the Lauraville neighborhood, hours after police received an emergency call reporting gunshots near the 4900 block of Morello Road at 2:30 a.m. They found Jennings about three blocks away in the 2600 block of Southern Avenue.