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By
Jasmine Milbourne
- August 5, 2025
Court
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Daily Stories
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Shooting
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Victims
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Charles Ward III, 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and firearm use in a felony violent crime on Aug. 5 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones.
Ward will serve 20 years, suspending all but five, for shooting his roommate in the leg. The sentence will run concurrent to another five-year sentence without the possibility of parole, and will include five years of supervised probation. The prosecution agreed to consider sentence modification and a step-down to home detention. Ward is prohibited from contacting the victim and the victim’s girlfriend, and must stay away from the incident location.
Ward was originally charged with two counts each of first-degree assault and firearm use in a felony violent crime, as well as one count of discharging a firearm within the city of Baltimore.
According to charging documents, on Dec. 1, 2024, Ward awakened while his male roommate was punching him. Ward in response shot the victim in the left thigh and allegedly stood over him saying, “I should kill you.”
Ward’s girlfriend and the victim’s girlfriend, who were both witnesses to the incident, told police that the fight broke out over a bottle of Hennessy cognac. All four lived together on the 3600 block of Bowers Avenue, where the incident took place.
When the victim’s girlfriend tried to help him, Ward allegedly pointed the gun at her, causing her to “fear for her life.”
Ward was arrested with a backpack containing a Glock 19 handgun loaded with one live round and 11 in the magazine after leaving the residence in a “hurried” pace.
Searching Ward’s bedroom, officers found a black 12-gauge Hunt Group shotgun with ammunition, a silver box containing 89 9mm cartridges and seven 12-gauge cartridges, a spent casing and one live round. Investigators canvassed the living room and found blood samples that apparently matched the victim, as well as a bullet fragment behind the television.
The victim and the victim’s girlfriend wrote impact statements, noting the incident left them scared for their lives and plagued by paranoia. The victim’s girlfriend wrote she was scared Ward would “finish the job” and lost a significant amount of money after moving out of the shared residence.
Defense attorney Martin Cohen said he was “surprised” to hear a statement from the people who started the fight. He noted there were no clean hands in the incident, and that Ward did not go to sleep intending to use his gun the next day.