West Baltimore

At the spot where a man was gunned down Thursday night outside a West Baltimore liquor store, someone placed an open Bible. It was opened to Proverbs 25, and one of the men milling around the store leaned over and read aloud: "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. " The shooting occurred about 8:15 p.m. in the 500 block of N. Fremont Ave. in the Harlem Park neighborhood.

A man was fatally shot in West Baltimore's Harlem Park neighborhood Thursday evening, police said. The man was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 900 block of Bennett Place about 8:15 p.m., police said. Homicide detectives are investigating the case. Thursday's shooting marks the city's 25th homicide in 2013. No more information was immediately available. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun

An 8-inch water main break in the 2600 block of Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore left 80 homes without water Wednesday night, the city Department of Public Works said. There were eight other active water main breaks in the city Wednesday night, according to the department, though they were not as serious. The department said the number of breaks they were repairing as not as high as it was a couple of weeks ago, when freezing temperatures resulted in dozens of broken mains.

Homicide detectives are investigating a shooting in West Baltimore that occurred about 7 p.m. Monday, potentially the first fatal shooting in more than a week in the city. The victim, a man who has not yet been identified, was shot in the jaw and leg and was in critical condition, city police said. The shooting was in the 1100 block of N. Stricker Street in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. There have been no fatal shootings in the city since Feb. 3, when two people were killed.

Lotfy Nathan never figured he'd connect with the 12 O'clock Boys, a West Baltimore dirt-bike gang whose culture he was hoping to capture on film. At best, he figured to end up with a documentary about trying to track down the group, and having little luck at it. Fortunately for Nathan, it didn't work out that way. "It was surprising to me that I was able to sort-of breach the group," says Nathan, whose "12 O'clock Boys" will be getting its world premiere at the South by Southwest arts festival in Austin, Tex., next month.

Hazel L. Smith, a retired West Baltimore cosmetologist and choir singer, died Sunday of heart failure at her New Shiloh Village Senior Living home. She was 91. Hazel Louise Smith was born and raised in Prince George's County, where she attended public schools. She moved to Baltimore in the 1930s to study cosmetology, and after receiving her license, Ms. Smith opened Hazel's Beauty Salon in her home in the 800 block N. Stricker St. She later moved it to a home on Braddish Avenue, where she lived for many years.

"12 O'Clock Boys," a documentary looking at West Baltimore dirt bikers, will get its world premiere at next month's South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas. Director Lotfy Nathan's film was one of eight documentary features chosen to be screened at the festival, out of more than 900 submitted for consideration. The film centers on 13-year-old Pug, who desperately wants to join the West Baltimore dirt-bike gang that gives Nathan's work its title. The SXSW website says the film "presents the pivotal years of change in a boy's life growing up in one of the most dangerous and economically depressed cities in the U.S. " Director Nathan, who began working on "12 O'Clock Boys" in 2008, is currently trying to raise $30,000 through kickstarter.com to complete post-production on the film, including color correction, sound design and mixing, music licensing and getting to SXSW.

Five firefighters suffered minor injuries Monday evening when a building collapsed during a four-alarm fire in West Baltimore. The fire began at and significantly damaged a three-story brick building and adjacent lumberyard in the 600 block of Pennsylvania Ave. called Penn Lumber, fire officials said. A deli next door also was damaged. Nearly 30 fire firetrucks and 100 firefighters were called in to battle the fire in Seton Hill and were still at the scene at 8:30 p.m. Conditions in the building worsened rapidly once firefighters responded in the late afternoon, city fire spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said.

A woman was fatally shot in the face during a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at her West Baltimore home on Sunday, shortly after the Super Bowl began, according to Baltimore Police. Police responded to the 1600 block of McKean Avenue in the city's Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood about 7 p.m. for a report of a shooting and found Rockelle Harper, whose age police could not immediately provide, badly wounded, said Detective Vernon Davis. Harper was pronounced dead shortly after.

Nearly three years ago, I stood with neighborhood residents and preservationists before what looked like an abandoned and very sad West Baltimore brick castle. Below its remarkable towers and stout walls on Rayner Avenue, I thought that this venerable old orphanage would not make it another year. Clearly at the end of its days, it seemed ready to fall from its embankment and hit the street. It was vacant, lacking a good roof and was lightly boarded. It is owned by Coppin State University.