Inconsistencies Revealed in Accused Shooter’s Police Statement

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A 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder on Nov. 20 for his involvement in last year’s shootout at a Marathon gas station in the Woodmere neighborhood.

On Nov. 18, 2022, Christopher Bowser was accused of pulling a gun on a man who was in the driver’s seat of a white Nissan Infiniti parked at the gas station’s customer service window, court documents report. The driver then pulled out his own gun and began shooting at Bowser as the defendant ran away.

On Monday, Bowser, alongside his defense attorney, Natalie Finegar, agreed to the prosecution’s offer of 30 years, suspending all but seven years, and five years of supervised probation for attempted second-degree murder and a consecutive 15 years, suspending all but five years without parole, for firearm use in a felony violent crime.

Bowser is required to register as a gun offender under the terms of the plea. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Charles J. Peters also waived all court costs.

The assistant state’s attorney prosecuting Bowser’s case informed the court that the incident was captured on city surveillance cameras near the 5100 block of Reisterstown Road and shows inconsistencies in Bowser’s initial statement.

According to charging documents, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers were notified of the shooting when Bowser walked into Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound. The defendant told police he was selling loose cigarettes near Reisterstown Road and Cordelia Avenue when a man pulled up in a car and asked for five cigarettes. As Bowser pulled out the cigarettes, court documents state, the alleged suspect pulled out a handgun and said, “Kick everything out.”

Court documents state that city surveillance footage showed Bowser returning fire; however, Bowser told BPD he ran away and a woman took him to the hospital after finding him laying in the grass with a gunshot wound.