The shooting victim of an attempted carjacking last year identified 20-year-old Isaiah Stroup as the getaway driver “without hesitation,” a Baltimore City prosecutor said at the start of the defendant’s trial on Aug. 25.
Stroup is charged with first- and second-degree attempted murder in addition to carjacking, assault and several weapons violations for the shooting on June 29, 2025. Defense attorney Jerry Rodriguez represents Stroup with Circuit Court Judge Kendra Y. Ausby presiding.
During Tuesday’s opening statements, the prosecutor said the shooting victim and his significant other were parked in a residential area on the 2400 block of Bridgehampton Drive around 3 a.m. before the incident. The couple were “deep in discussion” when two masked suspects approached the vehicle from either side and demanded their property.
Court documents state that both victims got out of the vehicle and that the male victim handed his car keys and iPhone to one of the suspects. When the same suspect went to take the male victim’s vehicle, the victim attempted to stop the suspect and was shot.
“[The male victim] was shot in the face,” the prosecutor said. “You will also know that the victim survived getting shot in the face.”
The male victim’s significant other took him to the hospital where he was sedated in critical condition, court documents state.
At trial, the prosecutor said the male victim was able to identify Stroup as the trio’s getaway driver because their vehicle’s interior lights turned when they opened the doors and the defendant was not wearing a mask.
The prosecution also informed the jury that Baltimore County detectives recovered the alleged firearm the next day during an unrelated incident involving the defendant. During that incident, Stroup allegedly got out of his vehicle, ran into the woods and threw the firearm before he was arrested, she said.
The firearm recovered in Baltimore County was consistent with the firearm used in the city shooting, including one casing found at the crime scene, the prosecutor noted.
“Why would someone have the firearm that is consistent with the shooting the very next day? The answer is, ‘It’s yours,’” she concluded.
“All I’m asking you to do is pay attention,” Rodriguez told the jury, adding that the prosecutor’s claims are “all allegations.”
Defense counsel questioned the prosecutor’s certainty of the facts, specifically, whether Stroup was at the scene or involved in the attempted carjacking.
Rodriguez acknowledged that the firearm recovered by Baltimore County Police did show “consistent markings” with the firearm from the city’s case. However, he asked the jury to determine whether the male victim’s identification of Stroup in a photo array was “an unreasonable selection.”
Testimony continued Tuesday afternoon and the trial is expected to last two to three days.
