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By
Jasmine Milbourne
- July 30, 2025
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Defense attorney Stephanie L. Salter argued that one of the three 911 calls made pertaining to the tatal shooting of 43-year-old Keith Johnson should be thrown becasue the caller identified a suspect that he never saw.
According to the phone evidence, which was played in court on July 29 in a pre-trial motion hearing, the caller dialed 911 to report a male victim was shot outside a bar on N. Pulaski Street. The caller identified a suspect in a black hoodie with green lettering on the back in the call. However, the caller did not witness the shooting.
The prosecution argued that the call be kept in evidence as it relays pertinent information regarding the beginning of the investigation.
The defense noted that the caller never actually saw the person who shot Johnson, he only heard the gun go off twice and saw a person running away from the crime scene.
According to charging documents, the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) responded to a shooting on the 500 block of N. Pulaski Street on the afternoon of May 4, 2022.
After a foot chase, the suspect was apprehended on the 2300 block of Lauretta and Wheeler Avenue, and later identified as Anton Harris, 37.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Cynthia H. Jones ruled that the parts of the call that identify a suspect running away cannot be played to the jury, but the portions describing Johnson can be for the purposes of identifying the victim.
Harris is on retrial after his original case was remanded in December of 2024.
He is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime and two counts of firearm possession with a prior felony conviction for the second time.
Harris also rejected a plea deal for 40 years for second-degree murder and 15 years, the first five without the possibility of parole, for firearm possession with a felony conviction. Opening statements are slated to begin on July 30.