Security Guard

Police in Georgia say they are investigating whether the suspect in a deadly shooting at an Atlanta-area megachurch is the same man convicted of chasing down a man and shooting him outside a Northwest Baltimore mosque in 2001. Floyd Lester Palmer, 51, is listed with the same name and birth date in court records from both incidents, which bear striking parallels. Palmer pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in the Maryland shooting - at a mosque where he was a security guard - and was later found not criminally responsible.

City and state legislators say they will push for greater regulation of longstanding but little-known laws that allow security guards to be granted law enforcement powers to arrest and search citizens. "If special police make sense, if they're necessary, and if they really do provide enhanced public safety, then at a minimum there needs to be oversight, accountability, training, and qualifications that are set by the state," Sen. Brian Frosh, who chairs the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said Monday.

The two men wore body armor with "POLICE" written across the chest and spilled out of their unmarked car, weapons drawn, ordering Christopher Dukes and his passenger out of their vehicle at a South Baltimore gas station parking lot. When Dukes pulled off, they embarked on a high-speed chase down Interstate 295 until catching up and placing the pair under arrest, charging documents show. Then it was time for the real police to take over. The men in the body armor were not Baltimore police officers or federal agents, but instead a little-known classification of security guards known as "special police," who are commissioned by the city or state to arrest and detain citizens - but only on specific properties.

A Baltimore man has been charged with murder in the slaying of a security guard last weekend at Tee Bee's Bar in Parkville, Baltimore County police said. Police said Saturday they arrested Haywood Trice, 25, of the 1500 block of N. Wolfe St., and charged him with first-degree murder and possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure. Trice is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center. County police said they responded to reports of a fight at the bar, in the 7100 block of Darlington Drive, at 1:30 a.m. Sept.

More than 20 Cherry Hill residents have filed a $25 million lawsuit against a Cleveland-based security company, claiming the company's officers routinely overstep their authority and abuse citizens' rights. "They act like cowboy-wannabe cops," William H. "Billy" Murphy Jr., the residents' attorney, said at a news conference Tuesday at a community church. "We're tired of it, and we're going to put them in their place. " The suit names three officers employed by Tenable Protective Services, two of whom have been appointed as "special police officers," a little-known classification for security guards in Maryland that grants them limited police powers within specific areas.

UPDATED: Listen to one of the 911 calls above This morning Gov. Martin O'Malley and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake congratulated the two city social services who helped subdue a mother and save her baby during an attack last week. . The mayor and governor walked into the cafeteria at the city Department of Social Services' office together, taking a roomful of hundreds of workers by surprise. They gave commendations to William Purnell Short III, who threw a chair at Kenisha Thomas and subdued her, and Dana Hayes, the social worker who was seeing Thomas at the time of the attack.

North Calvert Street 2700 block, between 6:52 and 11 a.m. April 3. Car boot stolen from 2002 Mercury with California tags 5VCG075. Falls Road 5900 block, between 8 p.m. April 4 and 3 p.m. April 5. White and black business sign for Acupuncture For All stolen from front of business while it was closed. 3000 block, between 3:30 p.m. April 4 and 5 a.m. April 5. Impact drill set, two chip hammers, 14-inch chop saw stolen from Barco Enterprise construction site office.

It's National Grammar Day, huzzah! You Don't Say brings you the fourth and final installment of Grammarnoir 4: Final Edition. " The previous installments: Part 1: "A Belle in the Night" Part 2: "The Mission" Part 3: "The Belly of the Beast" And now, the thrilling conclusion:   Part 4: The Chief I knew what to expect: a little man at...

Surveillance video helped police arrest a security guard at the Arundel Mills Mall who has been charged with stealing a safe filled with gold jewelry and money, according to Anne Arundel County police. Authorities said they are seeking a second suspect. The guard, John Thomas Cook IV, 22, of the 500 block of Ski Lane in Millersville, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of theft between $10,000 and $100,000. Police declined to say how much money or jewelry was in the safe.

A 17-year-old has been arrested and charged with the Halloween night killing of an Army veteran and airport shuttle bus driver who was in a North Baltimore carryout getting dinner as three masked men robbed the corner establishment. Markell Shelton Jones of the 2300 block of Westerwald Ave. was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, two counts of assault, armed robbery and several handgun counts. He lives about eight blocks from where the slaying occurred, in the Better Waverly neighborhood.