Southwest Baltimore

The family of a 28-year-old man found fatally stabbed Friday behind a railroad car in Southwest Baltimore said they're struggling to understand why someone would take his life. LaConte Mitchell, who worked security at Spring Grove Hospital Center, had never been arrested and "was always on the straight and narrow," said Tyronea Williams, 37, a close cousin. "He was a good kid — trouble never found him, and he never looked for it," Williams said. Mitchell was found suffering from stab wounds about 6 a.m. Friday at the end of the 600 block of S. Fulton Ave. in a grassy field near an idled set of railroad cars.

A broken 10-inch-wide water main in Southwest Baltimore caused a sinkhole to open on Frederick Avenue near its intersection with East Lynne Avenue late Tuesday night, according to city officials. The water main was shut off and Frederick Avenue was closed at the intersection, in the city's Mill Hill neighborhood, said Kurt Kocher, a public works spokesman. Repairs were scheduled to begin Wednesday morning, Kocher said. Police said they were on the scene helping to divert traffic.

A 35-year-old West Virginia man was fatally shot Tuesday night in Southwest Baltimore during what police said was a drug transaction. Police said an officer responded about 11:55 p.m. to the rear of the 800 block of Allendale St., in the Edmondson Village community. Anthony Guglielmi, the department's chief spokesman, said the man and another man walked behind a recreation center, where the victim was shot once in the head. Police have not identified the man pending notification of his next of kin, but Guglielmi said he was from Elkins, W.Va.

A 28-year old southwest Baltimore man died last night at St. Agnes Hospital after he was shot at about 6:15. Police were questioning a suspect.Homicide detective David Brown said the shooting of Antwon Wilkes, of the 500 block of Mt. Holly St., appeared to have been drug-related.He said Southwestern District police responding to a report of a shooting in the 3800 block of Edmondson Ave. found the man lying in the 400 block of Mt. Holly St., about a block away, bleeding from gunshot wounds to the torso and legs.

A man was shot in the legs Tuesday evening in the Carrollton Ridge neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. Officers responded at 5:42 p.m. to the report of a man lying in an alley in the 2200 block of Christian St. and found a 22-year-old male suffering from gunshot wounds to the left leg and right knee, police said. The victim was taken to an area hospital. Officers have made no arrests and are continuing to investigate the shooting, police said. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Baltimore police.

A 29-year-old man was found shot yesterday morning on a street in Southwest Baltimore and was pronounced dead a short time later at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, city police said. Southern District officers responding to a 911 call about gunfire in the 1900 block of W. Lombard St. about 4:55 a.m. found Van Maurice Johnson of the 1900 block of W. Lafayette Ave. lying in the street bleeding from wounds to the back, police reported. Metro Crime Stoppers at 410-276-8888 is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment.

Two young children were shot and wounded in Southwest Baltimore as their father picked them up at their aunt's house and put them into his truck Sunday night, city police said. The father, Michael Gilyard, was arrested on an unrelated warrant charging him with assault and a handgun offense, which police learned of after questioning him at St. Agnes HealthCare about the shooting, they said. Gilyard, 24, told detectives that he was putting his children into his GMC Yukon about 10:40 p.m. in the 400 block of Mount Holly St. when two men approached and opened fire, police said.