Treated And Released

At least six residents of a Northwest Baltimore apartment complex have been provided shelter after a single-alarm fire yesterday ripped through a two-story apartment building, causing heavy damage that extended to adjacent buildings, a Fire Department spokesman said. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. Reported about 7 a.m. at the Garrison Woods Apartments in the 2900 block of Garrison Blvd., the fire destroyed or damaged eight units on the second floor and extended to the roof, said Cartwright.

The two Eastern District police officers who were shot Monday while responding to a report of illegal gambling in East Baltimore have been released from Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. Officer Karen Brzowsky, 29, who was shot in the arm, was discharged yesterday. Officer Loretta L. Francis, 34, who was shot in the abdomen, was treated and released Monday night. Brzowsky, driver of the car, and Francis, the passenger, were approaching the intersection of Orleans and North Port streets about 6:30 p.m. Monday when they were shot by a man armed with a stolen .357 Magnum handgun as he attempted to rob men engaged in a dice game near the intersection.

A man was injured early yesterday when he was struck while walking across Route 140 at Cranberry Road, state police said.William Allan Kern Jr., 25, of the 800 block of Snowfall Way crossed from the shoulder of the eastbound road toward the grassy median of the divided highway in Westminster.He was struck in the second lane by a 1993 Ford Escort, driven by Clyde Warren Brooks Jr., 36, of the 7600 block of Schoolhouse Road in Sykesville, who was not charged, police said.Kern was taken by ambulance to Carroll County General Hospital, where he was treated and released.

One of three men shot in West Baltimore late Saturday remained in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center last night, while the two others were treated and released from the hospital early yesterday, police said.The three men were shot while sitting on the steps of a house in the 2300 block of Division St. about 10: 30 p.m., when an unidentified man approached and began firing a handgun at close range, said Agent Angelique Cook-Hayes, a Baltimore police spokeswoman.After the gunman began shooting, the three men tried to run, but the assailant continued to fire as the men collapsed, Cook-Hayes said.

Two masked gunmen robbed a McDonald's restaurant on Route 140 in Westminster early yesterdayand forced five employees into a walk-in freezer, state police said.The restaurant manager, who was not identified in police reports, was beaten during the 12: 20 a.m. incident at 520 Baltimore Blvd., according to state police at the Westminster barracks.He suffered several cuts to the head and was taken by state MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma center in Baltimore, where he was treated and released, police said.

A 43-year-old Glen Burnie woman was killed and six other people were injured late Friday, when her car was struck head-on in Pasadena, Anne Arundel County police reported.Darla Lee Rodey of the 1000 block of Olen Court was traveling west on Mountain Road at Outing Avenue about 11 p.m. with her 16-year-old daughter and four of her daughter's friends in a 1992 Nissan sedan. A 1996 GMC Suburban driven by Mhamed Bouadjemi, 46, of the 600 block of Powhatan Beach Road in Pasadena crossed the center line and struck Rodey's car before flipping over, police said.

A Severn man died Wednesday of injuries he suffered when his sport utility vehicle slammed into a guardrail and careened into a delivery truck traveling the opposite direction on Route 32 in West Friendship, police said.Matthew Murray, 26, of the 5000 block of Telegraph Road was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died about 5 p.m.Murray was driving his Ford Bronco north about 10 a.m. when he used the shoulder to pass another car, police said. He lost control, struck the guardrail and collided with the delivery truck just north of Parliament Place, police said.

One woman was killed and three others, two of them children, were injured in a two-vehicle collision yesterday on a busy road in Towson, Baltimore County police said.Diane Bredar, 40, of the 1200 block of Lime Kiln Road died after a truck broadsided her minivan at Dulaney Valley Road and Hampton Estate Lane, according to police. Bredar was turning left onto Dulaney Valley from Hampton when a truck driven by Donald Healey, 19, of the 2500 block of Ashton St. ran a red light about 9: 30 a.m., according to police.

Two people died and four others were injured in Baltimore County accidents, police said yesterday.Stacy Corbin, 27, of the first block of Breeze Branch Court in Timonium was killed when she was thrown from a car that skidded off York Road and into a ravine about 1 a.m. yesterday, county police said. Corbin was a passenger in a 1995 Porsche driven by Robert Louis Serio, 43, of the first block of Glen Falls Path in Sparks, police said.Serio was driving south on York Road near Quaker Bottom Road when he lost control of the car, said Cpl. Vickie Warehime of the Baltimore County Police Department.

A Severn man died Wednesday of injuries he suffered when his sport utility vehicle slammed into a guardrail and careened into a delivery truck traveling the opposite direction on Route 32 in West Friendship, police said.Matthew Murray, 26, of the 5000 block of Telegraph Road was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he died about 5 p.m.Murray was driving his Ford Bronco north about 10 a.m. when he used the shoulder to pass another car, police said. He lost control, struck the guardrail and collided with the delivery truck just north of Parliament Place, police said.

A Westminster man was killed and three others hurt in a two-vehicle collision early yesterday, Howard County police said. Gilberto Garcia Vasques was thrown from a Volkswagen Jetta after the driver, Jose Rosendo Algomeda-Santiago, 20, of Mount Airy lost control of the car on a slick road, police said. The car, which was heading north on Route 32 in Dayton, crossed the double-yellow line about 3:55 a.m. and hit a Dodge Ram pickup truck towing a trailer of hay, police said. Algomeda-Santiago had been drinking before the crash, police said.

The 19-year-old driver who caused a Bay Bridge crash in August that sent an 18-wheeler plunging into Chesapeake waters, killing its driver, will not be criminally charged, the Queen Anne's County prosecutor announced yesterday. Candy Lynn Baldwin of Millington, who was returning to the Eastern Shore from a wedding, had been drinking, the prosecutor said in a news release. But her blood-alcohol level shortly after the crash was .03, below the legal limit of .07 for impairment and .08 threshold to be considered under the influence.

Republican convention to hear Steele Former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele has received a featured speaking role at his second consecutive presidential nominating convention, the Republican National Committee announced yesterday. Steele is scheduled to speak Sept. 2 on the second night of the convention in St. Paul, Minn. Among the others speaking that evening on the theme of "reform" are three former presidential hopefuls: former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee.

Baltimore police are investigating the shootings of two teenage boys Wednesday night near Clifton Park in Northeast Baltimore. About 9:30 p.m., Northeastern District officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 1700 block of E. 30th St., in the city's Coldstream Homestead Montebello neighborhood. Officers discovered a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old wounded by gunfire. Both were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital. The 14-year-old suffered a serious gunshot wound to his leg and was admitted to Hopkins overnight for treatment, police said.

An Annapolis police officer who was trying to reach the keys in a stolen car was injured when the driver hit the gas in an attempt to flee, police said yesterday. Officer Robert Owen, 25, a two-year veteran of the force, tried to pull over the stolen red Honda Prelude on Aris T. Allen Boulevard about 4:40 p.m. Monday, but the driver would not obey, police said. When the driver, Rodney Pitt, 50, of Fort Washington, got stopped in traffic, Owen got out of his car and ordered Pitt to shut off the engine.

A 16-year-old Forest Hill youth has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, accused of shooting at a Harford County sheriff's deputy early yesterday, authorities said. Justin Jacob Bristol, who was charged as an adult, was being held without bail at the Harford County Detention Center, police said. The Emergency Operations Center received a call about 7 a.m. yesterday from someone saying that a teenager was agitated and possibly suicidal, police said. The caller said the teenager, who does not have a driver's license, had taken his grandmother's 2002 red Jeep Liberty without permission.

The 18-year-old man charged with shooting his 14-year-old girlfriend in the basement of his mother's rowhouse earlier this week told police that the killing was "a mistake," police charging documents say. Charles Jakes, of the 1900 block of N. Patterson Park Ave., has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Shawndreta Griffin. Police charging documents said the girl was shot in the head and found lying in bed. Jakes was also shot in his right thumb and, after police and paramedics arrived, he was transported by ambulance to Union Memorial Hospital.

Eighteen people were displaced and two Howard County firefighters suffered minor injuries when an Ellicott City apartment building caught fire early yesterday. The blaze broke out about 7 a.m. on the top floor of the three-story building at 8657 Town and Country Blvd., spreading into the attic, said Fire Chief Joseph Herr. The roof of the building collapsed. Fourteen of the building's 18 residents were home at the time and were safely evacuated. Firefighters searching for the other four residents learned they were out of town.

A police officer and a woman at the scene of a traffic accident were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center last night after they were struck by a car in Southwest Baltimore, police said. The officer was assisting drivers of two cars involved in a minor accident about 6:15 p.m. in the 900 block of Caton Ave., near Cardinal Gibbons and Seton Keough high schools, when a third car struck the officer and the woman, police said. The woman was the driver of one of the stopped cars, Baltimore police spokesman Agent Donny Moses said.

Two teenage boys were stabbed during a melee on a Maryland Transit Administration bus in West Baltimore yesterday afternoon, police said. An altercation involving the boys and several other juveniles broke out on the bus as it was passing through the 2900 block of Arunah Ave. about 4 p.m., said Nicole Monroe, a spokeswoman for the Police Department. A 17-year-old who was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with stab wounds to his head, neck and back was in serious condition last night but was expected to be released within the next day. A 15-year-old who was stabbed in the shoulder was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was treated and released.