Opening statements were presented June 1 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Alan C. Lazerow in the shooting trial of 36-year-old Larry Moore.
Moore is charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and multiple firearm violations in connection to a shooting incident that occurred the afternoon of Sept. 5, 2025, on the 2300 block of E. Preston Street.
Moore is accused of renting a Ford F-150 through an app called Turo and using it to carry out the shooting, which left the owner of Jay’s Grocery hospitalized with wounds to both hands and his right hip. The victim also suffered a graze wound to his neck.
During opening statements, the prosecutor told jurors the store owner had been sitting in his parked car outside the shop when the shooter deliberately shot him. Video footage confirmed these events, said the state’s attorney.
A responding officer, who is expected to testify as a witness, observed bloodstains and shell casings on the sidewalk, but saw that the victim was not on scene. The state’s attorney also told jurors that a phone number associated with Moore was used to rent a white Ford F-150 from D.C. at the time of the shooting.
The prosecution said the vehicle was later wiped clean of evidence, and that the truck’s tracking system had been disabled.
In rebuttal, Defense attorney Donald Wright claimed there was no proof to corroborate these claims.
Though Wright acknowledged the cellphone number tied to the Ford rental, he argued the state’s evidence was insufficient to link Moore to the incident. He added that no witnesses were able to identify the shooter, who had been masked, and pointed to a lack of a motive, DNA or fingerprint evidence found during the investigation.
Wright also added that while recovered footage showed the white truck speeding away, it failed to capture the shooter reentering the vehicle. The victim had claimed that the shooter had left in a van, not a truck, and investigators never recovered a van.
A month-and-a-half after the incident, Moore was arrested in an Acura wearing work clothes. He had a different phone than the one registered to the Turo app. The phone number used to rent the white Ford remained active after Moore’s arrest, Wright said.
The trial is set to continue through the week.
