When Anthony Shearin shot and injured another man last spring, defense counsel argued on Oct. 7, the attempted homicide defendant was trying to protect himself and his family when he saw the victim attempting to break into his and a neighbor’s apartments.
Defense attorney Latoya Francis-Williams widened the lens over the case when she told the jury that Shearin’s neighbor shared a child with the victim, who faces an arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting her earlier that day.
Shearin is accused of shooting the victim in the back while he was running away — an action the prosecutor described as not only attempted murder but “unacceptable gun ownership” given the defendant had a wear and carry permit for his Glock 45.
In addition to attempted first-degree murder, the defendant is also charged with first-degree assault, using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm in Baltimore City in connection to the incident on April 19 outside an apartment complex on the 1600 block of E. Eager Street.
During opening statements, Francis-Williams said the victim “kicked his baby mother’s behind” earlier that day and was texting what he was going to do to her. The mother of the victim’s child feared for her safety and left her apartment to stay with her mother. Later that night, surveillance footage allegedly showed the shooting victim walking around outside to the back of the woman’s apartment before going behind Shearin’s apartment located in another building.
Shearin and his fiancée were waiting in their apartment’s master bedroom for his children to return home from their mother’s when the defendant heard someone breaking into the room and saw “a dark face plastered against the window,” defense counsel said. As the defendant grabbed his gun, the victim left the outside of the master bedroom and was then seen near his children’s bedroom.
“You’re going to hear that [the defendant] was terrified,” Francis-Williams said.
Shearin went outside and peaked from behind a bush, where he saw the victim was still outside the defendant’s apartment windows. Francis-Williams said the defendant began shooting at the victim who hadn’t run away from the area but double-backed to the front of the apartment building where he then walked toward the defendant.
The defense attorney told jurors they should expect to hear the truth and consistency in the defendant’s description of the incident during his interrogation by the Baltimore Police and, potentially, his own testimony.
Earlier in the proceeding the prosecutor did not mince words when he described the victim as “sketchy” and “not a model citizen,” informing the jurors of the victim’s arrest warrant for the alleged domestic assault. However, he questioned Shearin firing six to eight shots at the victim as he was running away, striking him once in the back.
The prosecutor said Shearin told police, “I did shoot. I did chase him. I was wrong,” during his interrogation. Francis-Williams later noted that the jury will hear Shearin’s concern for the victim, asking if he was OK after police informed the defendant that the victim had been shot.
After the shooting, the victim was on a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) bus when the driver called police and took the victim to a nearby hospital. Police found him at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center during their search for potential walk-in shooting victims as well as six shell casings at the crime scene.
Following opening statements, testimony began late Wednesday morning and is expected to continue on Oct. 8 before Judge John A. Howard.
