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By
Sophia Strocko
- July 29, 2025
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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On July 29, jury selection began for the case of a 20-year-old man accused of fatally shooting another man in the head at close range while stopped at a Baltimore intersection.
Montay Brown is charged with first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony violent crime for the death of Garfield Redd, 33, on the unit block of E. 21st Street on May 6, 2024.
Counsel, including Brown’s defense attorney Alex Leikus, convened before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Levi S. Zaslow to select a jury for the homicide trial, which is expected to last four days. Brown’s trial was originally slated to begin on June 3 before Baltimore City Court Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer but was postponed to give the defense more time to prepare.
According to charging documents, Redd was found by Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers with a gunshot wound to the head in a Black 2006 Acura TLX a little after 4 a.m. on May 6, 2024. Video footage showed that Redd came to a stop at the intersection of 21st Street and Charles Street. As a handicapped individual crossed the intersection, a man approached the victim’s vehicle from the driver’s side.
The shooter, later identified by BPD officers as Brown, pulled a sawed-off shotgun from a grey bookbag and shot Redd in the left eye at close range through the driver’s side window.
Redd’s vehicle slowly drifted across the intersection until it went up onto the sidewalk and hit a large cable box. The shooter fled on foot within the 2200 block of N. Charles Street.
Brown was arrested for Redd’s homicide on May 15, 2024 following a tip given to the Metro Crime Stoppers. The tipster informed authorities that the man responsible for Redd’s shooting was known as “Murder” and provided Brown’s phone number and Instagram profile.
When arrested, Brown was allegedly found in possession of a loaded handgun, additional ammo secured to his body with a gauze wrap, and 17 units of suspected cocaine. Brown, who was 19 at the time of his arrest, was prohibited from carrying a gun both because he was under the age of 21 and due to a prior juvenile adjudication of a disqualifying crime.