Robbery

Baltimore police announced Friday that detectives have arrested suspects in two killings last month, including a fatal shooting during a robbery that netted $18, according to police and court documents. In the robbery case, police said Abron Scott, 42, of the 4500 block of Manor View Road was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and gun offenses in the shooting Sept. 9 of Shelton Elliott in a house in the 500 block of N. Carey St. in West Baltimore. Police said the suspect walked into a third-story apartment through an unlocked door about 7:40 p.m. and threatened four occupants with a pistol.

A man suspected in a rash of recent Craigslist robberies was taken into custody at a downtown library, where police say he was using a computer - possibly to set up more attacks. David E. Brown, 26, is accused of orchestrating at least four robberies that took place in the 3500 block of Callaway Avenue, a residential street in Northwest Baltimore. Two attacks occurred last year, in August and November, but two others were reported to police this month. Detectives were interviewing Brown to determine if he was involved in any other incidents, and charges were pending.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore and Baltimore County. Baltimore Central Assault by threat -- A 58-year-old man was walking in the 1300 block of Bolton St. about 5:30 p.m. Thursday when he was stopped by a man who asked for money. When the victim said he had none, the man implied he was armed and said, "Then I'm going to have to shoot you." The victim fled. Western Arrest -- A man sought in the shooting of a man in the 1800 block of Vine St. on Dec. 15 surrendered to police at the district station Thursday.

I'm writing in response to the decision of Baltimore prosecutors to reduce charges in the St. Patrick's beating ("Half of the charges are dropped in taped beating," May 10). I believe that the government should take this case more seriously. They have evidence due to this videotaping that four people beat and robbed a tourist. Is that not enough? Why are the charges being dropped? If you cannot walk down a Baltimore street without being attacked, obviously the government officials are not doing their jobs.

Police have charged an Essex man with pretending to be a police officer and stealing cash and a cellphone from a group of men in Washington Hill last month, court records show. Ioannis Skordalos, 35, of the 300 block of Riverside Drive faces charges of robbery, impersonating an officer and theft, and was being held without bail. There have been a series of police impersonation cases in recent months, including one in Greektown that occurred the day after Skordalos was charged, but he has not been linked to any other incidents.

The promising young researcher had come to Baltimore from his home in Florida, after attending college in Michigan and working with stem cells in Japan, where he became fluent in the language. Here, he assisted with breast cancer studies at the Johns Hopkins University and was poised to enroll in medical school. He was four blocks from his Charles Village apartment Sunday night when two robbers took his life for cash and a cell phone. Dropped off at Penn Station after a weekend trip to New York to visit his sister, 23-year-old Stephen Pitcairn was talking to his mother on his iPhone at about 11 p.m. and walking north in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. when a man and woman demanded money.

Baltimore County Police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred at the Lovecraft lingerie shop in Dundalk Saturday night. Police said two men with guns entered the store that sells garments and DVDs in the 700 block of Merritt Boulevard around 10 p.m. The men did not take any merchandise, police said, but they made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. No arrests had been made. jkanderson@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Laurel Police are continuing to investigate a robbery that sent a 65-year-old Laurel man to the hospital with injuries. According to Laurel Police, the man was walking from his apartment in the 300 block of Thomas Drive Nov. 18, when he was approached by two males, who hit him several times with their fists and took money from his pocket. Police said the man was taken to an area hospital in stable condition, and had five broken ribs and internal bleeding. The incident occurred at dusk near a fence that leads to Fourth Street.

A man was stabbed about 10 p.m. Sunday during an attempted robbery in the 6800 block of Broening Highway in Dundalk, according to Baltimore County police. The victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital for treatment, but his name and condition were not available. Police said there was no suspect at this time. Police were seeking information from residents. Metro Crime Stoppers will pay up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case. susan.reimer@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Howard County police were searching for two men who robbed a bank Thursday afternoon in Columbia. The suspects, one armed with a handgun, entered the Columbia Bank in the 10400 block of Little Patuxent Parkway about 2:45 p.m. and demanded money, according to police. They fled after a teller gave them cash, and no one was injured, police said. A reward of up to $500 has been offered for information. liz.kay@baltsun.com Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

An allegedly armed man robbed an Annapolis bank Monday and forced a lockdown at an elementary school, while police searched for him. The man entered Severn Savings Bank in the 1900 block of 1917 West St. at 10:45 a.m. A teller told police he displayed a handgun. He fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, police said. Mills-Parole Elementary School on Chinquapin Round Road was placed on lockdown for several hours, while officers searched the area. The suspect has not been found.

Howard County police have charged a man with holding up a pharmacist in Columbia with a syringe filled with blood that he claimed was tainted with the AIDS virus according to authorities. Police said the man got away with $27,000 worth of prescription drugs. The authorities said they confirmed the syringe contained blood and are testing it to determine if it indeed carried the virus. The suspect has been identified as Benjamin Frederick Blessing, 52, of the 5200 block of Golden Sky Court in Columbia.

A man who was shot while trying to rob a business Wednesday was later located by police at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. Officers responded to the hospital at 9:10 p.m. after receiving word that a man with a gunshot wound to the chest had walked in. An investigation showed the man had been shot while attempting to rob a store in the 3600 block of Parkdale Drive, just north of Druid Hill Park, police said. No further details were immediately available.

Ten-year-old Michael Patrick Finnerty hadn't been the same since his bike was stolen by another juvenile in East Baltimore. Tamara Hatcher knew she could fix that.  Finnerty beamed as Hatcher, a victim liaison with the Baltimore Police Department, and other police officials surprised him with a new bike on Tuesday afternoon, just a few days before his birthday. He hopped on the seat and took off down the street, as his mother, Cathy Martin, watched from the porch. "Just overwhelmed," Martin said of her reaction, as her son jumped a curb and pedaled down his street through the rain.  Hatcher came across Finnerty's case while sifting through recent robbery reports.

Related: California blogger who helped spread Parsons' information says he feels bad for him and he shouldn't do prison time . Bail for Aaron Parsons, the 20-year-old Rosedale man charged with punching and robbing a downtown visitor in a recorded attack that gained wide attention online, was reduced Monday morning to $500,000.  A District Court Commissioner initially set his bail at $1 million on Saturday morning after...

A man who robbed a PNC Bank in the 2300 block of Rock Spring Road in Forest Hill about 4:40 p.m. Thursday was taken into police custody after fleeing the area, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. After leaving the bank, the man drove several miles south to Fallston, where he "bailed out" of his car near the Walmart on Bel Air Road, said Monica Worrell, a sheriff's office spokesman. A Baltimore County Police helicopter unit had been tracking him, and assisted Harford deputies in locating the man in the Walmart parking lot, where he was caught, Worrell said.

A man and woman have been charged by Howard County police in connection with last week's robbery of a gas station employee in Woodbine. Kyle Benjamin Shields, 23, of the 15900 block of Old Frederick Road and Brandi Dawn Sexton, 22, of the 3900 block of Woodbine Road were both charged with robbery, assault, and theft. An employee of a BP gas station in the 15800 block of Frederick Road, reported that a man and woman assaulted him Oct. 13 and stole a bank bag, cash, his credit cards and the keys to his car, which they then used to flee the scene.

A worker was stabbed in the shoulder when two men tried to rob a KFC on Pulaski Highway in Edgewood around closing time Saturday night, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said Sunday. Three workers were cleaning up about 10:45 p.m. when the two men, one of them masked, forced their way past an employee attempting to lock the restaurant door. One man wielded a large knife, the other carried a handgun. Workers told detectives the man with the knife stabbed a female worker in the left shoulder before fleeing on foot with his accomplice and no cash.

Baltimore police are searching for three people involved in a March 18 beating of a tourist that attracted widespread attention after a video of the incident went viral on the Internet. The video showed a 31-year-old man from Arlington, Va., being surrounded in the 100 block of N. Calvert St. by a crowd of people, then struck multiple times, stripped of his clothes and robbed. The three suspects, whom police released images of seemingly taken from the online video, are wanted on assault and robbery charges, police said.

The Baltimore Sun A Northwest Baltimore man was sentenced to a life in prison for robbing and shooting a Baltimore City beauty salon owner in the head, the state's attorney for Baltimore said Friday. Malcolm Pulliam was sentenced by City Circuit Court Judge John Addison Howard for the May 4, 2010 attempted murder of the owner of Blessed Productions Hair Salon in the 6600 block of Belair Road. Pullium walked into the salon, pointed a handgun at the victim and demanded to know the location of her safe, officials said.