Southeast Baltimore

A running gun battle that broke out late Thursday night between Baltimore police and a suspect after a domestic incident in Canton left one man dead, two women shot and a quiet Southeast Baltimore street rattled. Police worked Friday to unravel the circumstances surrounding the overnight incident. It was the year's eighth officer-involved shooting and the second in which a suspect died. Officers responded to call about a disturbance at a house in the 3400 block of Foster Ave. just before midnight.

A running gun battle that broke out late Thursday night between Baltimore police and a suspect after a domestic incident in Canton left one man dead, two women shot and a quiet Southeast Baltimore street rattled. Police worked Friday to unravel the circumstances surrounding the overnight incident. It was the year's eighth officer-involved shooting and the second in which a suspect died. Officers responded to call about a disturbance at a house in the 3400 block of Foster Ave. just before midnight.

A Southeast Baltimore boy developed a severe leg infection from an untreated allergic reaction to a bite. A Hampden man threw out his possessions and fled his apartment with only a bag of clothes and a handful of papers. A Mount Vernon woman who struggled for months to rid her home of the pests finally sought therapy to deal with the trauma. Bedbugs were once a distantly remembered nuisance, the stuff of children's rhymes and Depression-era tales of woe. But increasingly, the tiny pests have become nightmarish bedfellows for homeowners, apartment dwellers and travelers in the Baltimore area and across the country.

As many times as I have stood on the MARC station platform in West Baltimore, I never considered there was a fantastic, Jules Verne-like interior just across Franklin Street. I assumed the fire-damaged brick building alongside the rail tracks was just another derelict structure. After a visit there this week, I learned that one of Baltimore's fascinating industrial archaeological sites endures in the Midtown Edmondson neighborhood. The story of this dusty old West Baltimore ice-making and storage plant has been making the rounds of planners and architects.

Akua Zenzele, a community supervision agent in Southeast Baltimore who works with parolees, knows the first few days after being released from incarceration are crucial for former inmates. Many are paroled with few resources and nowhere to go. Some end up homeless, and without a way to meet basic needs; others wind up back in jail after committing new crimes just to get by. Zenzele, whose job is to monitor those on parole and probation, has seen the cycle play out before. When she found out that one of her clients was living in a homeless shelter, she decided to try a new strategy to help people get settled as soon as possible.

Police were investigating a serious stabbing that occurred Tuesday afternoon in Southeast Baltimore.  According to preliminary information from police, the unidentified man was found stabbed at about 12:30 p.m. in the unit block of N. East Ave. in the Baltimore-Linwood neighborhood, a few blocks east of Patterson Park. His condition was not immediately known, but homicide detectives were notified. At the scene, the victim's shoes and some clothing appeared to be left behind in the middle of the street after he was taken to a local hospital.

An unidentified man was shot early Monday in Southeast Baltimore, according to city police. The man was shot several times about 2:10 a.m. in the 6600 block of Gary Ave. and taken to an area hospital. Police have made no arrests in the case. brent.jones@baltsun.com

A U.S. Census worker was killed while dropping off a co-worker in Southeast Baltimore last week, according to police and the Census Bureau. Spencer Williams, 22, was found shot June 7 inside his vehicle, which had pulled onto a median in the 1100 block of New Hope Circle, police said. He died Friday morning at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Williams was a crew leader responsible for a group of census takers who are doing follow-up visits at the homes of people who did not mail in their questionnaires by April, a Census Bureau spokeswoman confirmed.

Baltimore police have identified a woman found dead inside her Southeast Baltimore home Sunday, one of four killings detectives are investigating from the weekend. In addition to the weekend slayings, two men were reported shot Monday about 5:30 p.m. at South Monroe and West Pratt streets. They remained in serious condition Monday night, police said. Detective Kevin Brown, a police spokesman, said the violence left police "frustrated," but he said the city is "continuing to make progress on the crime fight," noting that with 109 slayings, homicides this year are on par with last year's 20-year low. "We cannot do this without community help," Brown said, urging residents to provide tips in the open cases.

An accident Friday morning in Southeast Baltimore left a tanker truck hanging off a bridge, authorities say. The incident happened about 5:30 a.m. in the 6200 block of Pennington Ave. when a utility work truck and tanker truck collided, sending the middle part of the tanker off the roadway, according to police. Authorities believe the tanker was empty and removed it from the Pennington Avenue Drawbridge. Police temporarily closed the bridge at Ordinance Road and Pennington Avenue.

The funeral procession for Matthew Hersl crawled through the tight streets of Southeast Baltimore, moving past the Milan restaurant, the Inner Harbor Travel agency and the Little Italy parking garage. Steve Hersl, Matt's brother, blared his car horn as he inched along. A blue passenger van with a Baltimore Orioles hat resting on the dashboard led the convoy through the 45-year-old city finance supervisor's neighborhood. As the procession passed his home, Steve leaned out his black Hyundai and yelled, "I love you, Matt!"

A large section of brick facade fell off a National Institutes of Health research facility on the Southeast Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, reviving concerns about a building that opened two years late because of other problems. The incident, in which no one was injured, also has raised questions about safety in a city with many large buildings - but no laws requiring their exterior walls to be inspected as they age. Experts say such problems are relatively rare, but could become more common as building standards change.

Akua Zenzele, a community supervision agent in Southeast Baltimore who works with parolees, knows the first few days after being released from incarceration are crucial for former inmates. Many are paroled with few resources and nowhere to go. Some end up homeless, and without a way to meet basic needs; others wind up back in jail after committing new crimes just to get by. Zenzele, whose job is to monitor those on parole and probation, has seen the cycle play out before. When she found out that one of her clients was living in a homeless shelter, she decided to try a new strategy to help people get settled as soon as possible.

As I walk around Baltimore, it has become apparent that the city is on an upward swing. I see more people out on the streets and living in places that once seemed underused or headed for trouble. Streets and places I once considered dangerous are not scaring people away. I was not surprised at this week's news that Baltimore, after losing population for decades, has added about 1,000 new residents. I asked myself: Who are these people? Then I sought some help from city planner Chris Ryer, who heads Southeast Community Development Corp.

A 10 year-old-girl died in a southeast Baltimore fire, in one of three blazes firefighters battled Saturday night. The fatal fire occurred about 11 p.m. in the 6600 block of Hartwait Ave., near the city line and Dundalk. Seven people made it out of the fire safely, believed to include a family with a grandfather, mother and five children, fire Chief Kevin Cartwright said. Firefighters searched the house on a report of a missing child upon arriving to the scene, but because of unsafe conditions were ordered to fight the blaze from outside the home.

Raymond Ellis Thompson, a retired foundry worker active in the Oliver neighborhood, died of cancer Jan. 15 at his East Baltimore home. He was 91. Born in Baltimore and raised on Bond Street, he was the son of Edward Thompson, a laborer, and Emma Milburn Thompson, a housekeeper and baker. He attended School 113 and Dunbar Junior-Senior High School. While at school, he met his future wife, Geneva Davis. As a young man, he worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II. After the war, he joined American Smelting and Refining Co. in Southeast Baltimore, where he worked until the plant closed in the 1970s.

A man in his twenties was shot in the foot in Southeast Baltimore on Sunday afternoon, according to Baltimore Police. Officers responded to the 6200 block of Toone Street in the city's O'Donnell Heights neighborhood about 12:40 p.m. for a report of a shooting and located the wounded man, police said. The man was transported to an area hospital, police said. Southeastern District detectives are investigating the shooting. No further information was immediately available.

The Sun recently reported on a city toddler who was senselessly and viciously murdered ("2-year-old boy killed in Southeast Baltimore," Dec. 3). The implication in the article was that the mother of the child committed the unspeakable act. In order to attempt to counter the vicious, never-ending cycle of domestic hostilities, isn't it high time we administer mental competency tests to parents or parents-to-be? If it reeks of socialism, so what as long as it curbs this unfathomable crime.