Northwest Baltimore

A man claiming to be selling watches, coins and other items on Craigslist - the Internet version of classified ads - has lured four people to a residential street in Northwest Baltimore and robbed them at gunpoint, according to city police. Two attacks occurred last year, in August and November, but two others were reported to police this month. Police said they believe all the hold-ups are linked - they're occurring in mid-afternoon in the same block on Callaway Avenue, lined with single family homes and green lawns near Ashburton.

Baltimore police said Sunday they are continuing to investigate the death of an adult male who was shot in the head Saturday in Northwest Baltimore. The shooting took place in the 2300 block of Riggs Ave. at around 4:15 p.m., according to Sgt. J Eric Kowalczyk. Police said the man, identified only as a black male, was taken to an area hospital, where he died from his injuries. As of Sunday afternoon, police had not identified the victim, and no additional information was available.

An overflow crowd at the funeral Friday of the Rev. Harold A. Carter Sr., a well-known Baltimore pastor, heard him described as a man with a "mandate on his life to shine. " The outpouring of fellow clergy and laity filled New Shiloh Baptist Church in the Mondawmin section of Northwest Baltimore, where Dr. Carter preached for more than four decades. He died of cancer last month at age 76. Between passages of gospel-style anthems and hymns, Dr. Carter was recalled as a man who did not settle for second-best and believed in pressing on, challenging himself to do better.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg in Northwest Baltimore on Wednesday night and was expected to survive his injuries, police said. The boy was shot shortly before 9 p.m. near the intersection of Reisterstown Road and Woodland Avenue in the Park Heights neighborhood, police said. A motive and suspect in the attack were unknown Wednesday night. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun

Amber Brown, 24, was complaining of chest pains the night police say she and her girlfriend drank alcohol and injected each other with heroin in their Northeast Baltimore apartment. Brown passed out and never woke up; her companion could face criminal charges. Brown's death was not unlike hundreds of others each year in Maryland from drug overdoses, but it is the only one in recent memory to be ruled a homicide. Because authorities rarely find witnesses, the medical examiner frequently labels such deaths "undetermined," a distinction that has led to debate over whether deaths in Maryland, including homicides, are being counted accurately.

Baltimore city police said they were investigating an overnight shooting in Northwest Baltimore that injured a 25-year-old man. The man was found near Park Heights and Belvedere avenues shortly after an officer on patrol heard gunshots at around 1:43 a.m., according to a release from the police department. The victim, who was not identified, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, police said, adding that he was taken to a local hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition. Police said anyone with information should call Northwest District detectives at 410-396-2466.

An unidentified man was shot in the leg in Northwest Baltimore about 9 p.m. Monday, according to city police. The victim was shot in the 3900 block of Barrington Road, police said. A department spokesman said police have no further details about the incident.

A man who was found early Thursday fatally shot in a van in Northwest Baltimore is believed by police to the same man who was abducted from his front porch Wednesday night by several people armed with guns, a department spokesman said. Police had been looking for a burgundy van with temporary tags after a witness said a man had been forced from his home in the 2300 block of Lauretta Ave. at gunpoint and driven away. Police broadcasted a lookout for the van Wednesday night. About 12:45 a.m., police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said police found the body of man who had been shot inside a van that matched the description from the abduction.

An attorney for a teenager who said his jaw was broken in an encounter with Baltimore police dismissed the city's civilian review board as a "proxy" for police after nearly three years have passed without a ruling on the case. In July 2010, Yardell Henderson, then 16, filed a complaint with internal affairs in which he said he was beaten by police in Northwest Baltimore during an incident that did not result in his arrest or criminal charges. He also contacted the civilian review board, a volunteer panel formed to great fanfare in the late 1990s, to provide a check on police.

When Tasha Wilkie helped out in the math department as an undergrad at Coppin State University, she dealt with some students who came in without basic skills. They didn't know their multiplication tables or how to work with fractions. "We have students who've taken courses like three times" before they passed, said Wilkie, who graduated in 2011 and is now working toward a doctorate in biology at Ohio State University. There, she realized she also was ill-equipped for some classes by her studies at Coppin.

An overflow crowd at the funeral Friday of the Rev. Harold A. Carter Sr., a well-known Baltimore pastor, heard him described as a man with a "mandate on his life to shine. " The outpouring of fellow clergy and laity filled New Shiloh Baptist Church in the Mondawmin section of Northwest Baltimore, where Dr. Carter preached for more than four decades. He died of cancer last month at age 76. Between passages of gospel-style anthems and hymns, Dr. Carter was recalled as a man who did not settle for second-best and believed in pressing on, challenging himself to do better.

A Northwest Baltimore woman was nominated to the city's police civilian review board on Monday night, the first move in filling as much as eight positions on the beleaguered nine-member board.  The nomination of Sunny Luisa Cooper for the unpaid position represents the second time Cooper's name has been submitted to the board, which investigates citizen complaints of abusive language and excessive force by police. She was originally put forward along with two others by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in 2011, and confirmed by the council, but the swearing-in never took place.

Another man was shot in Baltimore early Monday morning, extending the Memorial Day weekend violence into the holiday and bringing the number of shootings to at least eight. An unidentified male was taken to an area hospital after being shot in the arm and stomach a few blocks from Lake Montebello, police said. Police have no motive or suspect information at this time, Det. Angela Carter-Watson said. The victim was discovered in the 1600 block of 32nd St. at approximately 3:27 a.m. At this time there is no update on the man's condition, she said.

Frances M. Finney, who overcame poverty, earned a college degree and became a city school teacher, died April 19 from heart failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Guilford resident was 82. Frances Mae Hopkins was born in Baltimore and was raised in her maternal grandmother's Etting Street rowhouse. "Like many African-American families in the 1930s and 1940s, she grew up poor and remembered being taunted by others because of the neighborhood where she lived," said a daughter, Joyce E. Stewart, who is director of implementation and compliance for the Housing Authority of Baltimore City.

A shooting that killed a man and a triple shooting that injured three people Wednesday night followed another recent stretch of violence in Baltimore. Detective Angela Carter-Watson, a police spokeswoman, said homicide detectives were investigating the first incident, in which a man was found on the ground, shot multiple times in the upper torso, about 9:50 p.m. in the 2800 block of Ashland Avenue, in the Madison-Eastend neighborhood near Bocek Park. The man was still alive shortly after midnight but police said on Thursday morning that he had succumbed to his injuries.