Northwest Baltimore

A 20-year-old cousin of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was one of two men fatally shot in separate incidents Wednesday night in Baltimore, the latest victims of the city's relentless pace of gun violence. Joseph Haskins, 20, was shot inside a house just blocks from his family's home in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Forest Park. Police said the shooting appeared to be the result of home invasion robbery, but detectives still were investigating. They said it was unclear whether Haskins was targeted.

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore - roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland - are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout. The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year. The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore - roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland - are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout. The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year. The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

They filed in the lobby of Martin's Valley Mansion in Cockeysville, some ramrod straight, others on canes and bent over walkers. They came poised to crack open fragrant memories of their days at School No. 59, more intimately known as Louisa May Alcott Elementary on Keyworth Avenue in the Park Heights section of Northwest Baltimore. The gathering on May 5 was No. 59's fifth all-school reunion since 1979 and, according to one exhausted planner, maybe the last. While high school and college reunions may be the norm, Irv Hamet said this grammar school get-together is part and parcel of the culture in the close-knit neighborhood of his childhood.

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.

Detective Hassan Rasheed had been watching the Northwest Baltimore repair shop for weeks as men brought dirt bikes in and out for repairs. Now police, intent on cracking down on illegal bikes, were prepared to move in. Armed with a search-and-seizure warrant, Rasheed and a team of officers gathered up 16 bikes. Some had been reported stolen. As the officers combed the West Belvedere Avenue repair shop, a crowd gathered outside the barbed-wire-topped fence. "I'm sure everyone's [angry]

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.

A 20-year-old cousin of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was one of two men fatally shot in separate incidents Wednesday night in Baltimore, the latest victims of the city's relentless pace of gun violence. Joseph Haskins, 20, was shot inside a house just blocks from his family's home in the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood of Forest Park. Police said the shooting appeared to be the result of home invasion robbery, but detectives still were investigating. They said it was unclear whether Haskins was targeted.

Jeanette M. Smith, a retired housekeeper who was active in Republican politics, died May 2 at FutureCare Old Court senior living facility in Randallstown. She was 94. "We are waiting for the results of an autopsy for the cause of death," said a grandson, Thomas R. Jones II of Baltimore. The former Jeanette Marion Ray was born and raised in Catonsville and was a 1937 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. That year, she married Alexander Smith, a jukebox repairman, who died in 1983.

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the back of the head inside a home in the Gwynn Oak area of Northwest Baltimore early on Wednesday morning, according to Baltimore Police. The teen, who has not been identified, was listed in critical condition at an area hospital on Wednesday, said Detective Angela Carter Watson, a police spokeswoman. Officers responded to a report of gunfire in the 4000 block of Eldorado Avenue, on the border between the city's Howard Park and Dorchester neighborhoods, just after midnight and located the injured teen inside a home.

Alan D. Hecht, a retired insurance executive active in his industry for more than six decades who was also a national leader in his field, died of congestive heart failure April 2 at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and hospital. The Pikesville resident was 94. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Lee I. Hecht, an attorney and judge of the old Appeals Tax Court of Baltimore, and Miriam Dannenberg Hecht, a homemaker. Raised on Bateman Avenue, he was a 1936 graduate of Forest Park High School, where he was editor of the yearbook.

Detective Hassan Rasheed had been watching the Northwest Baltimore repair shop for weeks as men brought dirt bikes in and out for repairs. Now police, intent on cracking down on illegal bikes, were prepared to move in. Armed with a search-and-seizure warrant, Rasheed and a team of officers gathered up 16 bikes. Some had been reported stolen. As the officers combed the West Belvedere Avenue repair shop, a crowd gathered outside the barbed-wire-topped fence. "I'm sure everyone's [angry]

Police have taken a new step in their the battle to remove illegal dirt bikes and their freewheeling riders from the streets of Baltimore, creating an email address where residents can report the bikes anonymously. "All the way around, it's a menace, and we have to take some action," said Maj. Johnny Delgado, the commander of the Northwestern District, who launched the initiative. Riding dirt bikes in the city limits is against the law, as is storing them in a house or a shed with gasoline, police said.

City police say homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man found inside a home in Northwest Baltimore, and an assault in Curtis Bay that left a 19-year-old critically injured.  There were few details about the homicide case. Police said they were called to a home in the 4100 block of Groveland Ave. at about 8:10 p.m. for a report of a person not breathing, and found a man with "trauma to the body. " He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his identity and cause of death were pending, police said.  At 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, police said a 19-year-old man was sitting in front of a home in the 1600 block of Cypress St. with two other people when a man exchanged words with the group.

Alexander Moulton completed a four-year apprenticeship program last year to become a painter at the Coast Guard shipyard in Curtis Bay, following in the footsteps of his father, who said his son worked seven days a week to provide for two children. On Sunday night, the 29-year-old ate dinner with his parents and then headed off to a friend's house in Central Park Heights, where he was fatally shot inside a vehicle. His death was one of five being investigated by city homicide detectives over a 30-hour period in Baltimore.