A 25-year-old man accused of shooting at a passing driver from a moped in Baltimore City’s Washington Village/Pigtown neighborhood earlier this year was scheduled for a September jury trial on July 27 for attempted murder and several weapons charges.
During reception court before Circuit Court Judge Melissa K. Copeland, the prosecutor offered Buddy Rositzky a plea of 25 years, suspending all but 15 years, and three years of supervised probation for first-degree assault and a concurrent five years without parole for using a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. The charges stem from an incident on March 7 around 3 a.m. when the female victim allegedly returned fire through her windshield after Rositzky allegedly shot at her black Cadillac.
John Deros, who stood in for defense attorney Jason Rodriguez on Monday, rejected the offer and a three day trial was scheduled before Judge Videtta A. Brown, beginning Sept. 21. Judge Copeland noted that Judge Brown has another case and a court ordered payment hearing scheduled on the first day of Rositzky’s trial, which she anticipated will not interfere with the proceeding.
According to court documents, the 33-year-old victim told Baltimore Police that she was traveling on the 900 block of Washington Boulevard toward Carey Street and saw two mopeds driving side-by-side in the road in front of her. When the victim passed the mopeds because they were driving slowly, one of the male drivers — later identified as Rositzky — sped up, pulled alongside the passenger’s side of her Cadillac and attempted to cut her off.
After hearing a gunshot, the victim told police, she attempted to drive away from the mopeds but was followed. She then pulled out a loaded Glock 43X and fired several shots at the suspect through her front windshield before crashing on the 300 block of South Poppleton Street.
During their investigation, police found an XPRO F-1 Fiji moped at an alleyway entrance behind South Poppleton Street, where Rositzky was found after a witness reported seeing the suspect to police. A 9mm Girsan Regard MC handgun was also found in a pet waste container nearby with a missing magazine.
Rositzky later told police in an interview that he, his brother and another individual were slowly riding mopeds on Washington Boulevard. Someone driving a black vehicle drove up behind them and began honking, court documents state, before passing and shooting at him. Moments later, the defendant added, he drove to the 800 block of Ramsay Street, crashed and ran into the alleyway.
Court documents state that Rositzky invoked his Miranda rights and requested an attorney after police questioned him about the broken magazine and the unfired ammunition found at the crash site in addition to the firearm found near the defendant.
