An employee at Adnan and Sadek Deli and Grocery is expected to stand trial in the New Year on attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting at the people accused of shooting him and his coworker inside the store in June.
According to court documents, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers found 32-year-old Rasean Smith with a gunshot wound to his stomach and his coworker with a gunshot graze wound to the left side of his head on June 4. Video footage reportedly shows two men enter the store on the 1200 block of E. Preston Street and shoot at the employees around 9:20 p.m.
A person identified as Smith is seen taking out a handgun, running out of the store and firing back at the suspects who were believed to have run southbound on Harford Road. Police found the defendant at his home on the 1100 block of N. Central Avenue after the shooting.
Both the defendant and his coworker were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for surgery and follow uo treatment.
Smith is currently charged with multiple counts of attempted first- and second-degree murder and first-degree assault in addition to several firearms violations.
On Oct. 19, Smith, defense attorney Daniel Mooney, and the prosecutor appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa K. Copeland and agreed on a three-day trial, beginning Jan. 20, 2027, before Judge Hope Tipton — one week before the defendant’s Hick’s speedy trial deadline date.
Earlier in the proceeding, the defendant rejected the prosecutor’s offer to plead guilty to attempted second-degree murder for 30 years, suspending all but 15 years, and a consecutive 20 years, the first five years without parole, for using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. Smith would have also been required to register as a gun offender and stay away from the victims and the store.
Smith is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior convictions, including unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, illegal possession of ammunition and a regulated firearm, and having a handgun in a vehicle.
In July, Mooney shed further light on the case during Smith’s bail review hearing when he told Judge Kendra Y. Ausby that the two men who entered the store were fully masked when the shooting occurred and remained unidentified. The defense attorney said that his client was “not on [the shooters’] heels” when he returned gunfire, but only shot back at the men after “he had to physically try to patch [his] wound.”
Judge Ausby released the defendant on home detention to reside with his grandmother and only leave the home for medical reasons pending a doctor’s note or an emergency.
