Twenty-three-year-old defendant John Larry Booker pled guilty before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Jinkyung Hong on Aug. 25 to second-degree assault and firearm use in a felony/violent crime.
Booker was originally charged with attempted first-and second-degree murder, assault first-degree, reckless endangerment, handgun on person and firearm use in a felony/violent crime.
Surveillance footage indicates that Booker and others were involved in an altercation with another group when shortly after, a man in Booker’s group allegedly gave a gun to another suspect in the group. The suspect shot the gun three times in the air, causing both groups to flee the area.
Court documents reveal that the suspect who fired the gun dropped the firearm in a flowerpot on E. Cross St. The gun was retrieved by another member of Booker’s group who met with three other suspects in a parking garage on E. West St where footage allegedly shows Booker racking the gun.
The two groups met again at the intersection of S. Charles Street and E. Hamburg Street. This time Booker is seen raising his arms similar to a pointing motion. Then the groups run in opposite directions with a victim bleeding from his foot and limping.
On Aug. 1, a detective identified Booker as one of the suspects based on a recent arrest. A 911 call also reportedly confirmed there were two groups on the scene and that Booker’s group discharged the firearm.
In its plea offer, the prosecution presented the defendant with a lesser charge of second-degree assault combined with an illegal firearm use charge. The state offered a sentence of five years with three years probation for the assault charge and five years without the possibility of parole for the latter charge. Both sentences will run concurrently to each other.
The defendant agreed to the terms.
