343 Homicides A print vigil for the city’s 2017 murder victims ”This list of homicide victims for 2017 was put together using information provided by the Baltimore Police, the Beat’s own reporting, Edward Ericson Jr.’s Murder Ink column at the Baltimore City Paper (which ran weekly or at least online each week up to the paper’s last issue on Nov. 1), Cham Green’s homicide list (chamspage.blogspot.com), and the Baltimore Sun’s homicides list. The list names only those whose deaths were ruled homicides and excludes, for example, those killed in what police and medical examiners determined were “justified” means (those whose killers acted in selfdefense, which according to police includes the three men shot and killed by police in 2017). It also includes those who died this year due to complications from violence they experienced in previous years. All of which is to say this is a comprehensive if fraught list that nevertheless provides a window into the issue of violence— and especially gun violence—in Baltimore City, a deeply segregated, seriously divested, and, as recent federal indictments have shown, profoundly corrupt city, enduring long-simmering, oft-ignored systemic issues. Even a list that included those who died from heroin overdoses, in fires, in car accidents, even shooting victims who lived, and more would only begin to provide a window into what living in Baltimore is like for many of its residents. There are many kinds of violence perpetrated against Baltimore’s residents: Students attending schools with no heat is a form of violence too. “America loves violence, it is a violent place, it is founded on violence, it nurtures violence,” Baltimore Ceasefire organizer Erricka Bridgeford told Lisa Snowden-McCray and I back in July. “If we get mad at anybody we go and drop a bomb—forget all the problems we have, let’s go and fix those people with some violence. In order for the whole system to succeed, some of the people have to be at the bottom. Just think about that by itself: That system has to be a violent one, because how do you keep those people on the bottom? You have to use violent methods of oppression to make sure every time they think about rising up you have ways at every turn to keep pushing them down. And then you teach them that violence is the way you gain power.” The 2018 homicide victims were not named at Mayor Catherine Pugh’s vigil at the War Memorial on Dec. 28, when it should have been the sort of cathartic event with every victim’s name shouted out at least. We’ve named them below. (Brandon Soderberg, Baltimore Beat Managing Editor)
JANUARY Sheamon Pearlie James Williams Devonta Jackson Jamal Washington Timothy Stephens Jeffry Douglas Chris Pennington Cody Boyd Teshombae Harvell Desean Mcelveen Dominique Thaniel Dominique Hall Rashawn Fenner Andrew Zachary Angelo Wheeler George Cookson Herbert Allen Shawn Davis Oscar Acevedo Antonion Paesch Michelle Mettee Sherman Johnson Kelvin Armstead Stephanie Hullihen Lennell Reece Marvin Odell Raheem Payne Aurelio Rios-Rodriquez Dontia Akins Donnell Delbridge Maryus Smith Jr. Darrell Webb
FEBRUARY Brandon Anderson Donald Symptom Jessie Worthen Tonja Chadwick Lawrence Jones
JANUARY 10, 2018
James Hendricks Dominick Marshall Tyrone Donelson Davon Williams Sherman Carrothers Deontae Bleufort Sir Moodie Bryant Beverly Iran Timmons Antoine Mayo Jackie Burris Sherman Smith Thomas Lee Jr. Derron Strickland Anthony Griffin Gerald Long Laron Griffin
Claude Maid Fernando Riley Brandon West
APRIL Lamar Chambers Larry Miller Maurice Walker Douglas Holt Tyrone McMillian Darian Watson Corey Earl Brown Tion Singletary Shaquan Trusty Victor Lane Trayvon Chesley Philip Bradford Michael Wise Jr. Mario Jones Shahidah Barnes Rominico Roland Lavander Edwards Davante Wilson Gregory Jones Michael Scott Mackinley Williams Derrell Smith Ronald Rice Andrew Terrell Ashley Long Steven Jackson Larry Lawson Edgar Powers Darian Singleton
MAY Darania Tibbs Donald Holbrook Kevin Watkins Charles Frazier Tyrell Matthews Carlos Montgomery Channon Simpkins Tony Tingle Raynesha Hunt Tarrol Carroll D’Andre Johnson Charles Gatuthu Michael Duncan Kwame Cheeks Deandre Coleman Joshua Perry Vincent Curtis Dashanae Woodson Tomez Lee Brandon Lucas Tyrelle Williams Kathy Schultz Damontez Hudgin Thomas Wyatt Brian Deshields Dorian Lumpkins Bruce Chester Maurice Stovall Tyrone Dickens Reese Bowmn Dorian Faulkner Bernard Madison
MARCH Jamil Owens Sean Woods Kahy Kuhn Kalil Matthews Dominick Smith William Lesane Andrew Jackson Montell Pridgett Howard Martin Earline Thomas Markel Scott Tyrone James Shi-Heem Sholto Donya Rigby Davon Fair Terry Wells Dashon Houston Alphonza Watson Melvin Chisholm Victorious Swift Ernest Solomon April Ellis
14
BALTIMOREBEAT.COM