Murders this Week: 6
Murders this Year: 104

According to the Baltimore Police Department, there were 102 murders as of the morning of July 4 (there was a murder that evening that will be covered in next week’s column), Murder Ink counts 104. At press time, police could not account for the discrepancy.

Monday, June 27

4:59 a.m. Brittany Devone, a 22-year-old African-American woman, was found inside a residence in the 3200 block of Leverton Avenue in Southeast Baltimore. She had been cut in the body and throat and was dead. The next day, police arrested Jose Villatoro, a 25-year-old Hispanic Man, for Devone’s murder.

Tuesday, June 28

3 p.m. Chong Wan Yim, a 55-year-old Korean man, stopped in the 3900 block of Erdman Avenue to make a delivery to a liquor store. A man came up to Yim, pulled out a gun, and shot him in the chest during what appeared to be a robbery. Yim died at a city hospital a half-hour later. William Carr, a 49-year-old African-American man, was arrested for the murder on July 1.

11:52 p.m Christopher Samuel, a 24-year-old African-American man, was discovered lying in the street in the 500 block of Mosher Street a few blocks from the Shake and Bake skate rink. He had been shot in the torso and died at an area hospital at 12:34 a.m. the next day.

Wednesday, June 29

10:30 p.m. A group of people went to the 1900 block of Breitwert Avenue near Morrell Park for a fight. During the melee, someone fired a gun striking Omar Johnson, a 16-year-old African-American male, in the stomach. He died during surgery at a local hospital at 11:52 p.m. This is the seventh child murdered this year.

Friday, July 1

9:50 a.m. The Northern police district drug unit was in the 1100 block of South Carey Street when they saw a man lying on the sidewalk. James Lofton, a 21-year-old African-American, had been shot repeatedly. He died at a nearby hospital at 3:40 p.m. This is the fifth murder in Pigtown this year. 11:18 p.m. An unidentified 19-year-old was standing at the intersection of Stonewood and Kelway roads in New Northwood. A car drove up. Several people got out and approached the 19-year-old. They talked with him briefly and then one of the people shot him in the head. He died at an area hospital just after midnight.

Update: On June 27, Dante Jeter, 24-year-old African-American man, was convicted of murder. Jeter, Tyrone Freeman, a 25-year-old African-American man, and another man went to an abandoned house in the 2100 block of Orleans Street on May 4, 2008 to smoke pot. When they got to the house, Jeter pulled a gun on Freeman and shot him in the head because Freeman owed Jeter $150. Jeter committed the murder the day after his 21st birthday.

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