Murders this Week: 4
Murders this Year: 151

A 2008 death was ruled a murder on Aug. 31. Ankush Gupta, a 22-year-old male whose race has been listed by police as “other,” was walking around the Inner Harbor with two other people at 2 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2008. The other two people sat on a bench. Gupta told them he would meet them back at their car. They then heard someone yelling, followed by a splash. The pair went looking for Gupta but couldn’t find him, so they called the police. Divers found Gupta’s body at the bottom of the harbor. On Aug. 31, 2010, police ruled his death a homicide. On that same day, Wayne Jackson Black, a 20-year-old Caucasian male, was arrested for Gupta’s murder. Black was 18 at the time of the crime.

A homicide from this summer was added to the rolls this week. Robert Lockett, a 48-year-old African-American man, was found in the 2600 block of Quantico Avenue in Northwest Baltimore on July 23, 2010, at 12:32 a.m. His skull was fractured and he died on Aug. 4. His death was ruled a homicide on Sept. 9.

Tuesday, Sept. 7

11:55 p.m. Thomas Vas, a 35-year-old Caucasian man from Elkins, W.V., was shot in the head in the 800 block of Allendale Street in Edmondson Village. Police believe Vas was killed during a drug transaction.

Thursday, Sept. 9

12:55 p.m. Marcell Burton, a 33-year-old African-American man from Glen Burnie, was sitting in a parked car in the 2600 block of Baker Street in the early afternoon. A group of males came up to the car and at least one of them shot Burton several times. Burton managed to get out of the car and make his way to a nearby carryout, where he collapsed. Burton was taken to a local hospital but died at 1:30 p.m. This is the second murder in Coppin Heights/Ash-Co-East in six days.

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