Occupants

Annapolis police have arrested four local men in connection with yesterday's early morning shooting of an Eastport man. Michael Lee Davis, 22, was found in the 1300 block of Tyler Ave. around 2 a.m. yesterday with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was listed in critical condition yesterday. Davis was standing with a group of people in the Robinwood housing community when several men got out of a Buick and asked if anyone had marijuana, police said.

Baltimore city fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire that started on the roof of a rowhouse in Pigtown Sunday afternoon. Fire officials responded to a call about a fire at 1169 Sargeant Street at 4:21 p.m., said Fire Captain Roman Clark. When officers arrived smoke was billowing from the roof and the occupants had evacuated. The fire had spread to the two neighboring homes as well, Clark said. The fire was extinguished quickly but extra time was needed for cleanup because more water than typical was used to extinguish the fire, Clark said.

City police were searching yesterday for four gunmen who executed a 30-year-old man Friday night as he lay bound and handcuffed in his Northeast Baltimore apartment. Police said the four suspects are connected to a drug gang.In an unrelated homicide, a 48-year-old man was shot last night inside a West Baltimore home.The assailants in the Friday slaying, who police said were searching for money and drugs, tried to shoot two other occupants of the apartment who also were handcuffed, but a gun apparently jammed.

Five families were routed from their sleep early today when a fire of suspicious origin broke out in a ground-level dwelling in the Sentinel Courts Apartments in the 4300 block of Seminole Ave. near Edmondson Village.No injuries were reported.Battalion Chief Joseph Dillon said some type of incendiary device was thrown into the front window of an apartment at 4310 Seminole Ave. about 3:45 a.m., causing extensive damage to the living room.Chief Dillon said he and a fire investigator were trying to determine what type of device was used, but they were sure it was not a gasoline bottle Molotov cocktail.

When fire destroyed Blazie Engineering's building in the rural Harford County community of Street Oct. 18, causing $2 million in damage, the family-owned business had to scramble to find new quarters.After a two-week stint during which the company operated out of the basement of Dean and Marty Blazie's home and a garage, the owners quickly secured temporary space at the Forest Hill Business Airpark near Bel Air. Now, less than two months after the fire, the Blazies are making plans to build a new 11,000-square foot building at the airpark.

A van carrying 14 masonry workers ran off the road and overturned on southbound U.S. 29 in Ellicott City yesterday, sending six occupants to area hospitals and jamming traffic during the morning rush hour, authorities said.One occupant, Rodney Reed of Clearspring, was flown by state police helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was treated for a sprained neck, said Donna Tedrick, a spokeswoman for Mr. Reed's employer, Bragunier Masonry Contractors in Clearspring.

Some neighbors of Locust Lodge, an assisted-living facility in Riviera Beach, fear that a proposed expansion of its operation to allow five more occupants could create problems in their neighborhood."

Two men were shot to death last night and six other people were wounded when occupants of a black van fired with semi-automatic guns and a shotgun on a group of people near a North Baltimore carryout.And in South Baltimore, three men were shot by the occupants of a red Volkswagen Jetta while they stood on the corner of Veronica and Joplea avenues in Cherry Hill shortly after 11 p.m.The shootings near the carryout in the Pen Lucy neighborhood may have been the result of a drug dispute there, said homicide Detective Vernon Holley.

Baltimore's historic Masonic Temple might soon belong to local attorney and Orioles majority owner Peter G. Angelos, who intends to preserve it for new occupants -- possibly an expansion of Baltimore's School for the Arts.Angelos confirmed yesterday that he heads a group that has a contract to buy the seven-story building at 223-225 N. Charles St., formally known as the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and an adjacent parking lot. The purchase price is $2.2 million."At this juncture, the chances are very, very strong that we'll complete the purchase," he said.

A year-long dispute between a Pasadena couple and county planning and zoning officials over the expansion of their home for senior citizens has ended with a compromise -- and a new battle.Edmund and Eugena Janik, who run an assisted-care facility on Outing Avenue for eight residents, were seeking permission from the county to add seven more people.Citing fire safety concerns, the county Permit Application Center denied the request for expansion of Oak Lodge Senior Home, and the case went to the Board of Appeals.