Police Spokeswoman

Roy Rogers, Domino's, McDonald's, Clyde's and Pizza Hut are all names that regularly attract Howard County restaurant-goers. This weekend, police said, they also attracted robbers.Police said holdups of employees and patrons occurred from Friday afternoon to early yesterday. None of the five incidents appear to be related, said Sgt. Tara Ball, a police spokeswoman.The series of robberies began when a youth was accosted in the Roy Rogers restaurant parking lot in Columbia's Wilde Lake Village Center by a knife-wielding teen-ager who demanded money and took $20, police said.

Baltimore County ended 2011 with 30 homicides — a spike from the 20 killings in 2010. Still, police say, the homicide tally is one of the lowest in recent years and not a cause for alarm. Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said 2010 was "an anomaly. " "That was a very low year. It's important to look at the circumstances behind each of these crimes. We're not seeing any increase in random crime. Almost all of these homicides involve people who knew each other," Armacost said.

Two people were killed and a third was wounded in two unrelated shootings early yesterday, adding to the bloodshed of a violent new year in Baltimore. The death toll from homicides for 2003 stood at eight -- six of them from slayings during the weekend. In six separate incidents Saturday and yesterday, five people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed by gunfire and four were injured. The dead also included a 44-year-old woman who was strangled Saturday, police said. The identity of the woman, and of a man arrested in her death, were not made public yesterday evening, and police released few details about the case.

White Marsh Boulevard has reopened between Perry Hall and Honeygo boulevards now that traffic signals are functioning again after power outages due to Hurricane Irene disabled traffic signals, a Baltimore County Police spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon. Drivers had been instructed to seek alternate routes and to use extreme caution if they have to be in the area, said the spokeswoman, Louise Rogers-Feher, Thursday morning. The out-of-service signals had caused traffic backups at both intersections since the storm, she said.

Baltimore County Administrative Officer Frederick J. Homan was injured Saturday while riding a horse on the NCR Trail, a police spokeswoman said. Homan suffered serious injuries and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said Detective Cathy Batton, a police spokeswoman. She did not have an update on his condition Saturday night. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. appointed Homan to the top position in 2007 after had served as director of the Office of Budget and Finance in 1989.

City police were searching yesterday for the killer of a 51-year-old man who was shot Thursday night in the parking lot of a Giant Food store on Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore.Cecil Eugene Harris of the 4100 block of Boarman Ave. was shot several times by someone standing on the opposite side of the parking lot fence, said Agent Angelique Cook-Hayes, a police spokeswoman.Cook-Hayes said Harris was repairing his car on the southeast side of the parking lot, in the 5900 block of Reisterstown Road, when he was shot from about six feet away about 11 p.m. He was pronounced dead at Sinai Hospital at 11: 55 p.m.The police spokeswoman said detectives know of no suspects or motive.

Three men were shot last night in the Franklin Square neighborhood in West Baltimore, city police said. Officers received a report just after 9 p.m. of a shooting in the 1700 block of W. Lexington St., said Officer Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman. One was shot in the back, another in the buttocks and the third in the leg, she said. The victims, who Monroe said "were alert and talking," were taken to hospitals.

Several residents of Ellicott City's Allenford neighborhood woke up Sunday to find that vandals had destroyed a dozen mailboxes along Green Clover Drive.Police received a 911 call about 3: 30 a.m. Sunday when a resident saw two or three people walking along the 10000 block of Green Clover, knocking over mailboxes, possibly with a baseball bat or tire iron, Sgt. Tara Ball, a police spokeswoman, said yesterday.Police discovered 12 mailboxes had been knocked over, Ball said. She said police were unable to get a detailed description of the vandals.

The decomposed body of an unidentified black female was discovered at midafternoon yesterday by city police behind the Baltimore Streetcar Museum at 1911 Falls Road.A police spokeswoman said officers were called to the scene after a museum official complained of a strong, unexplained odor. Police found the body on a green blanket.The state medical examiner's office said that an autopsy would be conducted today. Officials were not able to estimate the age of the woman.Pub Date: 6/15/97

A fifth teen-ager was arrested yesterday in connection with the gang rape of a 13-year-old East Baltimore girl Thursday, police said.Carl Eugene Mallory, 14, of the 1500 block of E. Preston St. was charged as an adult with first-degree rape, false imprisonmentand a handgun offense, said Officer Sabrina V. Tapp-Harper, a police spokeswoman.The victim, who identified the suspects, was abducted outside a confectionary store, dragged into the basement of a house in the 1200 block of N. Eden St., held for several hours and raped by several youths.

Baltimore County Administrative Officer Frederick J. Homan was injured Saturday while riding a horse on the NCR Trail, a police spokeswoman said. Homan suffered serious injuries and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said Detective Cathy Batton, a police spokeswoman. She did not have an update on his condition Saturday night. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. appointed Homan to the top position in 2007 after had served as director of the Office of Budget and Finance in 1989.

A 28-year-old Ellicott City man died Sunday night after he was hit by a CSX freight train, Howard County police said Monday. Firefighters found Andrew Wade Pena of the 8500 block Timber Valley Court just before 8 p.m. near Frederick Road and Maryland Avenue in Ellicott City, according to a police spokeswoman. Pena was flown by a state police helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died. According to their preliminary investigation, police saw no signs of foul play.

A 57-year-old man who was found beaten earlier this week has died as a result of his injuries, police said. Albert Bethea was found about 3:45 a.m. Sunday in the 700 block of E. Eager St. in East Baltimore, suffering from injuries to the face and head consistent with being kicked or stomped, said police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe. Bethea was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died on Tuesday. Monroe said a witness saw a man standing over Bethea, but a motive has not been established.

Two men were killed and another was critically injured in three separate shootings over an eight-hour span in Baltimore, police said Monday. About 10:25 p.m. Sunday, an officer responded to a call for a shooting in the 600 block of Cherry Hill Road, said Detective Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. Police found Charles Gregory Pratt, 18, of the 8700 block of Church Lane in Randallstown lying in the parking lot of the Cherry Hill shopping center. He had been shot several times, according to Monroe.

Balto. Co. police seeking convicted child rapist Baltimore County police said Tuesday they continue to seek information on the whereabouts of a man convicted in October of sexual child abuse and second-degree rape of a juvenile. Police have issued a warrant for Charles A. Kingery, 61, formerly of the Parkville area. Kingery did not appear for his sentencing hearing in February, police said. The crimes he was convicted of were committed between 1973 and 1975, according to court records.

Two men shot; police exploring possible link Two shootings were reported in the city's Northeastern District Monday night, according to a Baltimore police spokeswoman. In the first incident, a man was shot in the chest and right buttock about 10:50 p.m. in the 7200 block of McClean Blvd., said Officer Nicole Monroe, a Baltimore police spokeswoman. The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital. The second victim walked into Good Samaritan Hospital shortly after 11 p.m. after he was shot in the chest and arm at Moravia and Belair roads, Monroe said.

A 50-year-old Westminster man, who allegedly shot at a decoy deer from an automobile on a public road Thursday, was charged with illegal hunting by Maryland Natural Resources Police.Salvatore Marcellino Jr. was charged with shooting at a wildlife species from an auto and one count of shooting a rifle from a public road, said a Natural Resources Police spokeswoman.Police did not specify the location of the incident.The hunting offense carries a maximum $120 fine and the second charge is a $70 fine.

A 14-year-old West Baltimore youth was found dead yesterday morning of multiple gunshot wounds not far from his West Lanvale Street home, police said yesterday. Terrell Seawell of the 1300 block of W. Lanvale St. was found dead in the 700 block of North Woodyear St. near Lanvale, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. Police found the body after responding at 12:20 a.m. to a reported shooting. Monroe said detectives had yet to identify any suspects or motive in the shooting.