Victim

Two young men were fatally shot in separate incidents early yesterday and Tuesday night, and a 17-year-old was arrested in one of them, as the pace of homicides in Baltimore reached an average of one a day in May. The latest reported killings brought to 124 the number of homicides in the city this year, compared with 111 for the same period in 2006, police said. Law enforcement officials attribute at least part of the violence to drug turf battles and an increase in gang rivalries. In many cases, police and prosecutors complain that victims and witnesses are reluctant to cooperate with investigators and instead settle scores outside the city's criminal justice system.

Two men were shot and killed and another man wounded in unrelated incidents in Baltimore over the weekend, police said yesterday. The first victim was found about 11 p.m. Friday. Northwestern District police were responding to a report of a man shot inside a house in the 2900 block of Chelsea Terrace when they discovered Richard Lawson, 24, of that address, bleeding from at least one gunshot wound, police said. Lawson was taken by ambulance to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.

"Lucky," by Alice Sebold. Scribner. 240 pages. $22.In a world where the simple flip of a calendar page triggers fears of Armageddon, it's nice to know that some things are predictable. One is the reliable swish of the pendulum from one social extreme to another: We've gone from suppressing victims to glorifying them, from demanding their silence and shame to encouraging them to flaunt their tragedies for our entertainment.Popular spectacles include the TV tabloid and courtroom shows, where people compete for designated victim status, and the stampede to become a blameless casualty of one dubious medical entity or another -- attention-deficit disorder, chronic fatigue, sexual addiction.

"Lucky," by Alice Sebold. Scribner. 240 pages. $22.In a world where the simple flip of a calendar page triggers fears of Armageddon, it's nice to know that some things are predictable. One is the reliable swish of the pendulum from one social extreme to another: We've gone from suppressing victims to glorifying them, from demanding their silence and shame to encouraging them to flaunt their tragedies for our entertainment.Popular spectacles include the TV tabloid and courtroom shows, where people compete for designated victim status, and the stampede to become a blameless casualty of one dubious medical entity or another -- attention-deficit disorder, chronic fatigue, sexual addiction.

A 16-year-old East Baltimore youth was fatally shot last night outside a dwelling in the Latrobe Homes public housing complex, police said.The victim was standing outside a low-rise apartment building in the 900 block of Webb Court, talking with four or five friends, when a gunman approached and shot him in the head, said Detective Irvin C. Bradley of the homicide squad.The victim died instantly, Bradley said.He said the gunman fled on foot.The victim's name was withheld pending notification of his family, Bradley said.

A man was shot to death yesterday afternoon while sitting in a car in East Baltimore, police said.Detective Clifton Macer said the victim, 24, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car about 3: 15 p.m. in the 2300 block of Greenmount Ave. He said another man approached the vehicle on the victim's side and fired a handgun of unknown caliber, hitting the victim several times in the upper body.The victim, who fell out of the vehicle and collapsed on the street, was pronounced dead at the scene by the crew of a Fire Department ambulance, Macer said.

The rules of evidence deny juries data on victims, other chargesIn The Sun's interesting article "Jurors deliberating over trial experience" (Nov. 11), Erin Texeira reported on her post-verdict interviews of jurors in the robbery trial of former police officer Dorian Martin.The jurors said that they wished they'd had had more evidence. One complained that the Assistant State's Attorney "offered little evidence of the [victim's] character or standing in the community."After the trial, the jurors learned from news articles that the defendant had once pleaded guilty to the crime, and that he is accused of similar crimes against two other victims.

Judge Dudley sounds like a burned-out caseRegarding Howard County Circuit Court Judge James B. Dudley's indiscretion in blaming the victim of a rape case for her passive role in subjecting herself to rape, domestic abuse is known to be a mental health issue for both the victim and the perpetrator.Yes, the victim needs to recognize her behavior is unhealthy. Was it helpful for the judge to blame the victim? No.A suggestion that the victim receive counseling from a professional would have gone further toward helping the victim.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore and Baltimore County.Southwestern DistrictOfficer assaulted/arrest: Officer Clifford White was in the 4100 block of Frederick Ave. about 5: 30 p.m. Friday when a man driving a Toyota Camry allegedly tried to run him down. White was uninjured, and the 47-year-old driver was arrested a short distance away and charged with first-degree assault.Robbery: A 30-year-old woman was in the 2500 block of Boyd St. about 1: 30 a.m. Friday when a teen-age male with a BB pistol robbed her of $20. The youth was arrested and charged as an adult with armed robbery.

A former driver for a sheltered workshop in Hanover was sentenced yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting a disabled employee at the workshop.James A. Nichols, 52, of the 600 block of Brisbane Road in Baltimore entered an Alford plea to a second-degree sex offense in January, not admitting guilt but conceding that state had enough evidence to convict him. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison.Judge Clayton R. Greene Jr. ordered Nichols to register with police as a sex offender when he leaves jail and begins five years' probation.

A 30-year-old man was fatally stabbed early Friday in West Baltimore, one of two recent killings detectives were investigating. Police found the man lying in the 1500 block of Edmondson Ave. about 1:20 a.m. and followed a trail of blood into a nearby three-story apartment building, across the street from Harlem Park, according to Donny Moses, a police spokesman. Inside, they found a large of pool of blood in a hallway, and Moses said witnesses told police there had been an argument that preceded the stabbing.

Here are some crimes from recent police blotters: * A dozen male juveniles "ordered the victim to the ground at gunpoint. The suspects took two cell phones and a wallet." * "The victim was walking home from school when suspect tried to forcibly take a small book bag. The victim punched the suspect in the face and he fled on foot." * Eight juveniles, one with a knife, demanded that a victim "empty his pockets" and when he refused, "the suspect kicked and punched the victim and took his wallet and cell phone."

When the shooting victim set to testify against 18-year-old Jordan Jennings disappeared earlier this year, police say it wasn't a case of witness intimidation: The victim was hiding out so Jennings could go free. He wanted to settle the matter himself. Police believe that the victim and his cousin plotted to kill Jennings, shooting at him outside his Better Waverly home May 7. But Jennings was unharmed, and the next day, police say, Jennings killed the cousin in broad daylight as he walked in the Beverly Hills neighborhood.

Woman, 82, bilked of $3,000 3 It's an old scam: Someone pretends to have found a bunch of cash and is willing to share it, but only if the "mark" puts up some money first as a good faith gesture. In the end, of course, the mark - or victim - is left with neither cash nor good faith. One such swindle, sometimes called a pigeon drop, took place Thursday afternoon in a Baltimore County shopping center. The victim was an 82-year-old woman who police say was approached by two younger women toting a tale about a "bag of money" they had found.

This is a story in which everybody did the right thing. The victims, the cops, the prosecutors, the judge and the jailers conspired to get a case right. No excuses needed or sought. No apologies required or offered. They did what they were supposed to do, and the bad guy went to prison. Yes, in Baltimore. So, of course, there's a twist. It came in the form of a letter from the Maryland Parole Commission to the 66-year-old mugging victim's son-in-law who lives in Laurel. The man they had worked so hard to put behind bars has a parole hearing scheduled for July.

police reports in baltimore city and county: Northeastern Baltimore Shooting A man, 23, was walking in the 2400 block of Belair Road about 8 p.m. Saturday when he was shot in the face by one of two men who fled on foot. The victim ran into a nearby grocery store, whose employees called police. The man was reported in serious condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital. No arrests had been made. Northern Baltimore Robbery try/shooting Police were seeking a man armed with a shotgun who shot another man, 44, in the buttocks about 11:45 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of E. 32nd St. during an attempted robbery.

City police continued to seek the person who fatally shot an 18-year-old man Saturday night near the victim's Sandtown-Winchester home in West Baltimore. Mark Henson of the 1500 block of N. Carey St. was shot in the head and upper body about 9 p.m. Saturday, police spokesman Troy Harris said yesterday. "We found him lying in the street already being tended to my medics," Harris said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Metro Crime Stoppers at 410-276-8888 is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest and an indictment in the slaying.

Homicide detectives are investigating two shooting deaths with ties to the Waverly area, though it was unclear whether the incidents are connected. Police responded to Coldstream Park Elementary School in the 1400 block of Exeter Hall Ave. about 7:30 a.m. yesterday after receiving a report of a male found unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds near the playground area. The male, whose identity was not available yesterday, was taken to Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead. It was the second incident in three days to take place near a city school, after police shot and wounded a man Monday afternoon during a chase that ended steps away from Belmont Elementary School in West Baltimore.

Here is a recent item from The Baltimore Sun's Police Blotter describing a shooting in Northwest Baltimore: "A male, 19, from Randallstown, Baltimore County, was sitting on a weight bench on the back porch of a house in the 5400 block of Jonquil Ave. about 9:20 p.m. Monday and watching friends play cards when he heard gunshots. As he and his friends fled, the victim realized he had been shot in the left leg and lower back. He was taken by ambulance to an area hospital and admitted. His condition was not available and there was no arrest."

2 injured in separate shootings in Balto. Co. Two people were shot late Saturday in Baltimore County, one of them during what police described as a home-invasion robbery. Shortly before 9 p.m., two men, at least one of them armed with a gun, forced their way into a house in the 900 block of Garden Drive off Marlyn Avenue in the Silver Manor section of Essex by kicking in a door. A man in his 50s was shot in the leg. It was not known whether any property was taken or whether the invasion victim was deliberately targeted, police said.