Murders this Week: 2
Murders this Year: 12

With just two homicides this week, as of Feb. 1, Baltimore City had 10 fewer homicides this year than the same time last year.

Monday, Jan. 25 [MORE]

Murders This Week: 4
Murders This Year: 10

Monday, Jan. 18

2:35 p.m. Darius Goines, a 19-year-old African-American man, was found shot several times in the head and body in the hallway of an apartment building in the 1000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Goines was shot in the 600 block of West Hoffman Street, but managed to make his way to the apartment building. He died at an area hospital at 8:05 p.m. Police believe he was shot when a fight broke out following the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. [MORE]

Baltimore City went six consecutive days without a murder. As of Monday, Jan. 18 there were nine fewer homicides this year than at the same time in 2009.

Sunday, Jan. 16 [MORE]

Murders this week: 0
Murders this year: 5

There were no murders in Baltimore this past week through Friday, Jan. 15, the last date for inclusion in this column due to an early holiday deadline. [MORE]

Murders this week: 4
Murders this year: 5

One murder was removed from the 2009 homicide total in December and another was added. Baltimore Police are no longer counting the Dec. 9 police-involved shooting that left Byron Matthews, a 20-year-old African-American man dead, as a homicide. The Dec. 8 death of Debrah Beard, a 59-year-old African-American woman, has been ruled a homicide. Beard and her daughter, Qurra Iqbal, a 17-year-old African-American girl, were attacked in their home in the 5500 block of Midwood Avenue in North Baltimore on Dec. 3. Beard was a double amputee, missing both legs. She and Iqbal lived in the first-floor apartment of a house. William Jones, a 32-year-old African-American man, lived in the apartment upstairs. Williams allegedly forced his way into Beard's apartment and attacked first Iqbal, then her mother, with a hammer. Iqbal died that day. Beard was taken to a hospital in critical condition and died as a result of the beating on Dec. 8. Thus, the homicide toll for 2009 remains at 238.

The man shot to death on Jan. 3 has been identified as 33-year-old African-American man Marcal Walton. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 4
Murders in 2009: 238
Murders in 2010: 1

Baltimore City saw four more homicides in 2009 than in 2008. While this total keeps the city's homicide rate at a low not seen since the 1980s, the rise in murders, modest though it was, reflects a trend opposite of what's being seen in other major cities. Homicides across the nation are declining. Washington D.C. and Philadelphia saw significant decreases, and New York City saw its lowest number--463 murders--since the city started keeping track in 1963. If New York had Baltimore's homicide rate, that number would have been 3,092--more homicides than that city has ever seen in a single year. If Baltimore had New York's homicide rate, instead of losing 238 of our citizens to violence, we would have lost just 35.

Tuesday, Dec. 29 [MORE]

The murder of Roger Dennis, a 25-year-old African-American man, has been closed by exception. Dennis was shot in the 1900 block of West North Avenue in 1997. He died on Aug. 1, 2008. The man police believe was responsible for Dennis' death has died.

The March 6, 2009 murder of Herbert Carsten Jr, a 17-year-old Caucasian man, and the March 8, 2009 murder of Wayne Robinson, a 22-year-old African-American man, have both been closed by exception, but police were not able to say why. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 8
Murders this Year: 235

Two deaths were added to homicide rolls this week, putting the city one homicide above last year's total of 234. Police were called to the 2800 block of Kentucky Avenue in Belair-Edison for a child not breathing at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 19. When they arrived, the child's father was performing CPR on her. Janaya Wallace, a 1-year-old African-American girl, was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The baby's father said he put Wallace to sleep at 11:30 p.m. the night before on the couch in the basement used as her bed. When he woke up at noon that day he said she was still snoring. At 2:15 p.m. he went to the basement to wake her up and found her not breathing with blue lips. Police saw scrapes on both sides of the baby's neck as well as bruises on her forehead and cheeks. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by beating. Wallace is the 14th minor murdered this year, but the first under the age of 14.

On Oct. 18, 2008, a contractor working on a house in the 1900 block of East Lanvale Street found bones in the basement. The skeleton was later identified as belonging to Trina Johnson, an African-American female. Johnson was last seen by her family on Oct. 6, 2003, the day before her 22nd birthday. The medical examiner recently ruled her death to be a homicide due to asphyxiation. [MORE]

Murders This Week: 3
Murders This Year: 227

Wednesday, Dec. 16

3:33 p.m. Darnell Gray, a 35-year-old African-American man, was riding in the back seat of an SUV with a bunch of friends. When they rolled into the 700 block of Bartlett Avenue in East Baltimore Midway, two men standing on the corner started firing at the car. The driver accelerated to escape the gunfire. The gunmen shot out the rear window, and when the driver looked in his rearview mirror, he saw Gray slumped over. Gray had been hit in the right armpit and left knee. He died at an area hospital less than an hour later. No one else in the car was shot. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 6

Murders this Year: 224

The death of Josue Zelaya, an 18-year-old Hispanic male, has been removed from the Baltimore Police Department's official homicide tally because it has been ruled an accident. Zelaya was shot to death at a friend's house in the 400 block of North Glover Street on Nov. 15 when a gun allegedly held by Roque Ramirez, a 19-year-old Hispanic male, accidentally discharged.

Two more deaths resulting from old shootings have been added to the homicide roll this week. Dagas McGill, a 39-year-old African-American man, was one of two people shot in the 2300 block of Etting Street in Druid Heights on Sept. 17, 1999. Both were taken to an area hospital in critical condition. McGill, who had been shot in the neck and back, died on Sept. 11 of this year. The other victim, who was hit in the chest, neck, chin, and arm, is still alive. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 9
Murders this Year: 219

Numerous homicides from previous years were added to the rolls this week, dating all the way back to 1994. Tavon Waters, a 23-year-old African-American man, was sitting in a truck in the 2800 block of Boarman Avenue in Northwest Baltimore at 11 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2006. Someone came up behind him and shot him, injuring his spinal cord. He died on April 1, 2009, as a result of that injury.

Glen Footman, a 50-year-old Caucasian man, was walking with his boyfriend in the 600 block of Howard Street in Mount Vernon on Sept. 22, 2008, just before 1 a.m. Someone rode up to them on a bike. Footman's boyfriend kept walking, but Footman stopped to talk to the man. The boyfriend called to Footman, "Let's go," then heard two shots and saw the man on the bike ride away. Footman died on Nov. 9 of this year due to complications from the shooting. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 5
Murders this Year: 210 

The death of a man assaulted in 2002 was added to the homicide rolls this week. On Dec. 29, 2002, Larry Staton, a then-51-year-old African-American man, was at the corner of Parrish and Winchester streets in Sandtown-Winchester, when two men beat him severely. He never fully recovered from the beating and died at a nursing home on June 12, 2009. The Medical Examiner's Office ruled that his death was due to complications from the assault.

Tuesday, Nov. 24 [MORE]

Murders this Week: 5
Murders this Year: 205 

Monday, Nov. 16

12:26 a.m. Antonio Smith, an 18-year-old African-American male, died at an area hospital. Smith was found lying in the street in the 1900 block of East Lanvale Street in Broadway East. He had been shot several times. He is the 28th person under the age of 20 murdered this year. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 9
Murders this Year: 200

Monday, Nov. 9

3:20 p.m. Kenneth Ray Jones, a 46-year-old African-American man, died at a local hospital. The day before, at 2:47 p.m., Jones and a friend were in the 3000 block of Towanda Avenue just north of Mondawmin Mall. They were there to meet another friend. A burgundy van drove up and blew its horn. Jones got into the van and talked to the driver. Then, people outside heard a pop and Jones was pushed out of the van, which then drove away. He had been shot in the head. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 4
Murders this Year: 191

Tuesday, Nov. 3

6 p.m. Police discovered a dark-gray car that had been in an accident in the 1300 block of West Fayette Street by Franklin Square. Joseph Taylor, a 28-year-old African-American man, was inside the car, shot in the head. He died at an area hospital that night. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 3
Murders this Year: 187

Monday, Oct. 26

10:15 p.m. Joshua McKinny, a 24-year-old African-American man, was pronounced brain dead at an area hospital. McKinny was shot two days earlier. Just after 10 p.m. on Oct. 24, police got several 911 calls about a shooting in the 2000 block of North Wolfe Street near Clifton Park. When police arrived, they found McKinny lying on the sidewalk, shot numerous times. He was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery, but was eventually removed from life support.   [MORE]

Murders this Week: 3
Murders this Year: 184

The death of Constantine Frank, a 54-year-old Caucasian man, was added to the homicide rolls this week. On July 29 at 8 p.m., an employee of Frank's business, Precision Vending, found Frank in the office of the warehouse in the 1000 block of South Lakewood Avenue, near the Can Company shopping center in Canton. Frank was lying in the vestibule. His hands and feet had been bound, though he had been able to get one hand free. The business had been robbed. Frank was conscious, but couldn't speak; he had a stroke during the ordeal. He was taken to an area hospital where he died on Aug. 11. The Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide due to bleeding on the brain from the assault.

Tuesday, Oct. 20 [MORE]

Murders this Week: 5
Murders this Year: 181

Tuesday, Oct. 13

8:46 a.m. A resident of the Saint Josephs neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore called police and told them a body could be found in the 3200 block of West Lexington Street. Mark Johnson, a 31-year-old African-American man, was discovered sitting in the driver's seat of a car parked in that block. He had been shot in the head and was dead. [MORE]

In this week's Murder Ink, we reported on the sentence Melanie Blevins, a 23-year-old Caucasian woman, received after she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of her infant son.

Blevins gave birth to the boy in a bathroom on Oct. 4, 2008. The baby was born alive, but Blevins put him in a plastic bag and tossed him in the garbage behind the church, causing his death. Blevins was sentenced to 10 years in prison with 9 years, 11 months, and 29 days suspended, meaning she only spent one day in jail for the crime. She also received five years probation and 900 hours of community service as part of her sentence. [MORE]

Murders this Week: 5

Murders this Year: 176

Due to the Columbus Day holiday, this week's column only covers homicides from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9. Any additional homicides will be covered online at citypaper.com/go/murderink.

Editor's Note: (The last three homicides in the online version of this column were added after the paper went to press, so it differs from what appears in the print version. The number of murders for the week and the year have been updated as well.) [MORE]