Homicide rates dropped to a record low for April, with Baltimore Witness data showing a 50 percent decrease from the previous month. Meanwhile, non-fatal shooting rates saw a 50 percent increase, with April seeing the highest number of such incidents this year.
Compared to the six homicides recorded in March, April recorded only three. The arrest rate for April homicides was 67 percent, with Baltimore police apprehending suspects in two of the three incidents.
April’s first homicide of occurred early in the month, minutes before 3 a.m. in the city’s Inner Harbor area. On April 5, officers responded to the 200 block of Key Highway and found 40-year-old Brandon Long deceased at the scene with a gunshot wound. Nine days later on April 14, detectives arrested 27-year-old Travion Lemon of Baltimore County and charged him with murder, assault and handgun violations.
The second homicide arrest last month occurred just over two weeks later. On April 29, detectives arrested 29-year-old Taiwan Gray and charged him with the murder of 56-year-old Mark Nash. Nash had been found shot dead near midnight on April 23, on the 2800 block of W. Cold Spring Lane.
Meanwhile, police have yet to announce an arrest in the April 12 murder of 39-year-old Jason McReady, who was initially listed in stable condition after being shot on the 4900 block of Palmer Avenue. The shooting was upgraded to a homicide after McReady succumbed to his injuries at an area hospital.
Though homicide rates saw a significant decrease last month, the city’s non-fatal shootings swung the opposite way, they increased from 20 incidents in March to 30 in April. April’s total marks the highest number in any one month since the start of 2026.
Of the 30 incidents that occurred last month, police have announced arrests in only two.
One of the suspects, a 26-year-old resident of Laurel, Maryland, was arrested in connection to an April 11 shooting on the 1100 block of W. Lafayette Street. Officers apprehended the suspect, Michael J. Parkerton Jr., on April 15.
Later that month, 27-year-old Anthony Shearin was arrested for allegedly shooting a man just before midnight on April 19. Officers later located a crime scene on the 1600 block of E. Eager Street and learned the victim, a 28-year-old man, took himself to an area hospital via bus for treatment. Shearin was apprehended two days later.
Both suspects have been charged with attempted murder and are currently awaiting trial.
