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By
Erin Kim [former]
, Breeze Cofield [former] - March 3, 2024
Court
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Daily Stories
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Non-Fatal Shooting
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Shooting
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Suspects
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On March 1, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Yolanda A. Tanner accepted the guilty plea of a former security guard accused of a non-fatal shooting at a strip club.
Aldrich Hunter, 60, is charged with firearm possession with a felony conviction, illegal possession of a regulated firearm, having a gun within 100 yards of the public, having a loaded handgun on his person, having a handgun on his person, transporting a firearm without a serial number, possession of a firearm without a serial number, illegal possession of ammunition, firing a gun within Baltimore City and reckless endangerment in connection to an incident that took place on March 5, 2023.
During the hearing, the defendant’s attorney, Jerry Prince, and the assistant state’s attorney reached a plea agreement consisting of 15 years, suspending all but 10 years, with the first five years without possibility of parole and three years of supervised probation for possession of a firearm with felony conviction to be served concurrently with one year for the discharge of a firearm.
Hunter will also register as a gun offender per the plea’s terms.
The defendant told the judge with tears in his eyes, “I am an entirely different person than what my record says I am,” and that he turned his life around re-entering society after a period of incarceration in 2015.
He spoke of his career as a DJ and how difficult it was for him to find work, leading to his job as a security guard at the strip club. Hunter explained that the discharge of the firearm at the strip club was his attempt to, Make sure everybody got out of the club safe,” as gang members entered the establishment.
As previously reported by Baltimore Witness, on March 5, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers responded to the discharge of a firearm in a strip club on the 400 block of East Baltimore Street. Upon arrival, owners of the club informed BPD officers that an altercation occurred between Hunter and a group of other men.