First of Four Co-Defendants Sentenced for Israeli’s Death

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A 19-year-old Pen Lucy resident was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Baltimore City Circuit Court Sept. 13 for fatally shooting an Israeli national visiting Baltimore for his cousin’s wedding.

Rasheed Morris was charged with first-degree murder, attempted armed carjacking, conspiracy to commit armed carjacking, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, firearm use in a felony violent crime and possession of a firearm as a minor for the death of 31-year-old Efraim Gordon. Morris pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June 2022.

“He made an evil and cruel decision,” said the prosecutor of Morris’ actions on the night of June 8, 2021. Acting with three other young men to steal Gordon’s car on the 3700 block of Fords Lane, Morris fired the fatal shot that killed him.

Defense attorney Staci Pipkin told Judge Lynn S. Mays her client was only 16 at the time, a tenth grader doing virtual learning. His mother, who was present in the courtroom, raised Morris on her own while working at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, she said. Pipkin asked the judge to recommend Morris to the Patuxent Youth Program, an intensive rehabilitative program within the Maryland prison system.

Gordon’s aunt, whose house Gordon was leaving when he was murdered, told Judge Mays she’s since moved out of Baltimore. In their statements, other relatives agreed their sense of safety has been destroyed.

Gordon’s cousin, the bride for whom he’d come to Baltimore, said of the co-defendants, “They broke a family; they shattered a community.”

Judge Mays sentenced Morris as agreed upon in his plea deal: life, suspending all but 40 years, with five years of supervised probation upon release. The judge agreed to recommend Morris to the Patuxent Youth Program.

Pipkin told the court she intended to file a motion for sentence modification due to Morris’ age at the time of the offense.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said in part in a press release after the sentencing, “This is the first sentencing of the four cases related to the horrific killing of Efraim Gordon and underscores the priority our office places on delivering justice for victims and their loved ones. Mr. Gordon’s family has been irreversibly impacted by his sudden and tragic death. Nonetheless, today, they witnessed the first defendant being held accountable for the anguish and trauma he inflicted.”

The three other co-defendants are all scheduled for sentencing in December: Omarion Anderson and William Clinton on Dec. 12, and William Holloman, who was found guilty at trial this summer, on Dec. 2.