Murders this Week: 4
Murders this Year: 87

Two homicide victims from last week have been identified. The man shot inside a car on May 28 was Fareed Abdullah, a 28-year-old African-American. The woman found dead in the woods on May 29 is Lois Smythe, a 40-year-old Caucasian.

Tuesday, May 31

12:49 a.m. Peyton Rivers, a 34-year-old African-American man, was walking in the 3400 block of East Baltimore Street a few blocks from Patterson Park. At least two males came up to him. One had a gun and shot Rivers in the chest. His attackers fled, and Rivers sat down in front of a house less than a block away, where he was discovered by police. He died at an area hospital at 1:17 a.m.

10: 22 p.m. That night Maurice Gary, a 35-year-old African-American man, was shot numerous times in the head and chest in the 700 block of East Eager Street near the Baltimore City Correctional Center. He died at an area hospital an hour later.

Wednesday, June 1

4:30 a.m. Police were called to the scene of a brush fire in a wooded area by the 5400 block of Moores Run Drive near the city line in the northeast. The fire department extinguished the fire and found the body of John Kelly, a 25-year-old African-American man, in the brush. Kelly had been stabbed in the chest, neck, and head, killing him, and then his body was set on fire.

Friday, June 3

10:44 p.m. Durran Banks, a 25-year-old African-American man, was shot in his apartment in the 2200 block of Fleetwood Avenue near the Perring Parkway Shopping Center. He died at an area hospital less than an hour later. Police believe he may have been robbed.

Updates

On May 27, Jordan Jennings, a 20-year-old African-American man, was convicted of murdering Kenneth Johnson, a 23-year-old African-American man and former Marine. According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, Johnson was at a cookout at the home of his fiancee’s mother in the 5100 block of Hillburn Avenue on April 21, 2009. He and another man went out on the porch to make a call, because there was no cell phone reception in the house. While they were on the porch, Jennings approached them. Jennings had a gun and tried to rob the men. Johnson’s fiancee and their 4-year-old child were standing inside the open doorway. Johnson tried to get the gun from Jennings but was shot in the process. Jennings is currently charged with three other violent crimes from April and May of 2009, including another murder. Jennings was 18 at the time.

Anthon Diggs, a 23-year-old African-American man, was arrested on June 2 for the robbery and murder of Jalil Al-Salim, a 40-year-old African-American man. Al-Salim was stabbed in the chest in the 1600 block of North Fulton Avenue on May 21.

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