Yikes.

From The Baltimore Messenger Crime Log:

Falls Road, 3700 block, at 9:57 p.m. July 16. Rite-Aid store robbed of cash by man with handgun.

Can't we please just stop shooting each other?

Today's Police Blotter in The Sun shows this:

"Shooting: A man, 20, was in the 3600 block of Ash St. in Hampden about 12:30 a.m. Sunday when he was shot in the stomach. The victim was in good condition at a hospital."

Avenue Business Break-In

There indeed has been a rash of break-in's on The Avenue, and yesterday, Charlotte Elliott was the victim.

Hawker has details, but for obvious reasons, doesn't plan to post here how the thieves managed to break in. They took a very small amount of cash, but a significant value of goods from the store.

This on Valentine's Day! Considering the owner was hoping for a day full of desperate men looking for that perfect last-minute gift, this theft hurt hard.

Promoted from Comments: The Real Story on Thursday's Alleged Chemical/Weapons Stash

So this recent post about Thursday's "chemical house" I cribbed from The Baltimore Sun. I just passed on the Sun news (and details I garnered from various news videos.)

Apparently, there's more to the story.

To follow are a reader's comments, and Hawker's heard other similar things from close sources:

"Actually, this home is owned by a friend of mine, and the whole thing was a misunderstanding (to put it mildly).

Bottom line: They are not thieves, not running a meth lab, not trafficking firearms, and not planning treachery involving hand grenades.

The homeowner is an antiques dealer. He hadn't stolen anything, and was able to quickly and effectively clear up that misunderstanding with the HoCo police.

However, while in his house, HoCo police saw suspicious-looking parts of weapons and were obligated to report that observation to City police. The parts of weapons were related to his active-duty training as a national guardsman. The grenade was an antique and was inactive. And the chemicals found that necessitated the evacuation were just common chemicals used to refinish furniture.

This family are long-time residents of Hampden, and are good friends and good neighbors who have done nothing wrong and who pose no threat to the neighborhood whatsoever. Police have a job to do and 9 times in 10 I'm glad they're there to do it; unfortunately, in this instance, it has resulted in undue and inordinate stress on a lovely family."

So, assuming this is closer to the truth, let's all feel for Jonathan S. Hollands, because his Thursday was WAY shittier than yours. I especially feel for him because of the "oh you know what Hampendites are like!" fodder the Thursday news stories became for lots of folks.

What happens when you keep hand grenades around and rob houses?

Once again, Hawker's out of town when something big goes down. (This time, Hawker was visiting a relative in the hospital, so there will be no snarky comments about her lack of timely coverage.)

Serving an arrest warrant in Hampden, Baltimore police found a house full of "chemicals" and "weapons." The house was on the 3400 block of Roland Ave., and apparently, a couple of blocks surrounding the area were closed for hours. Plus, the five houses on either side of the chemical filled home were evacuated for a while.

Items found inside included a machine gun, an inert hand grenade, chemicals used for gold finishing and material that may have been an inert explosive. Cops are denying the meth lab rumors, but not emphatically so.

The homeowner was identified as Jonathan S. Hollands, 39. Police had originally gone to the home to serve Hollands with an arrest warrant for stolen household items.

Hawker interrupts snow news to bring you this.

I'm not sure what the lesson is here. A woman was apparently attacked on a city bus (there's some dispute about the bus line) leaving Hampden and then dragged out the back door of the bus and beat up on the street (again, the exact location is unclear.) The woman was attacked by a group of Robert Poole Middle School students.

Am I supposed to believe from the mother of one of these students that sometimes it's ok for a group of kids to jump an adult and beat her into the hospital?

Crime Log

There was a stabbing in Hampden yesterday. No real details are readily found.

This is not a crime blog!

From today's Police Blotter in The Baltimore Sun:

"Northern
Robberies/arrests // Five teenage boys, all 17, have been arrested and charged as juveniles with robbing at least three people in less than 30 minutes on streets in Hampden Sunday morning. In two of the robberies, victims were threatened with a baseball bat. The robberies occurrred between 1 a.m. and 1:20 a.m. in the 900 block of W. 37th St., the 1600 block of W. 41st St. and the 3900 block of Elm Ave. Taken were three cell phones and an iPod, all of which were recovered. The youths were spotted in a car at Chestnut Avenue and E. 37th Street by Officers Eric Dodson and Karani Nolet, who arrested the suspects without incident."

A Wise Voice is Raised

Go here for some wise thoughts about crime from The Shank.

I want to be clear: Hawker's not laying blame for crime in Baltimore. I don't think there is an easy fix. I think it's up to all of us to reduce crime in our communities, but I agree with The Shank that the first step would be a reallocation of resources on a national level.

Just something to think about before you think one person can solve this problem and you go laying blame at the doorstep of folks whose hands are tied.

Disturbing News Update

More about the body found over the weekend:

According to The Sun, the man died of blunt force trauma, and though the area where he was found (under the 41st Street bridge) is known as a hang-out for the homeless, police haven't yet determined whether the man found was homeless are not. Police are investigating this death as a homicide.

Here's the last two sentences from the article:

"He was the city's 225th homicide this year. For the same period last year, the city had 199 homicide victims."

If you got someone to love, please love 'em.

Baltimore Crime notes that another dead body was found in Hampden Saturday night. This one was found under 41st Street bridge overpass. No news yet on the body found in the Jones Falls on August 30th.

Hawker wonders what it will take before this city stands up and says enough.