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By
Sophia Strocko
- July 31, 2025
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Shooting
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Testimony continued on July 30 in the trial of a 27-year-old man accused of repeatedly and fatally shooting another man in the head outside of a Baltimore liquor store.
Amir Barnes-Henderson is charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, a second offense of having a loaded handgun on his person and illegal possession of a regulated firearm in connection to the Nov. 21, 2024 death of Gary Lee Matthews, 34. Matthews was found prone and bleeding from 22 gunshot wounds, 12 of which were to his head, outside of the One Stop Liquor Store on the 4900 block of Frankford Avenue following an alleged confrontation with an individual.
During the second day of a jury trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy, witnesses took the stand to share knowledge about crime scene and evidence connected to Matthews’ fatal shooting.
Testimony gave further context to an eyewitness account from the first day of the trial. Two members of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), the responding officer who discovered the case’s key eyewitness at the crime scene and the homicide detective who conducted his initial interview, provided their accounts of the eyewitness’s distraught condition following the shooting.
Both BPD officers noted that the eyewitness identified a nearby apartment complex where he believed that the shooter would be following the crime. He used Google Maps to point it out during his interview with the detective.
The detective explained that the eyewitness gave the nickname and physical description of the man he claimed shot Matthews during his initial interview. A photo array was then given to the eyewitness, who positively identified a person said to be Barnes-Henderson as the alleged shooter.
While cross-examining the detective, Barnes-Henderson’s defense attorney, Augustine Okeke, called into question the witness’s knowledge of Barnes-Henderson before conducting the photo array.
Okeke grew frustrated as he asked the detective why he had questioned the eyewitness about the suspect’s tattoos during the interview, but the homicide detective maintained that he had no knowledge of the crime before interviewing the eyewitness and had not seen Barnes-Henderson, who has visible tattoos, before his trial began.
A crime scene technician offered testimony related to photos of the crime scene as well as close-up images of two different calibers of ammunition recovered from the scene.
Using images of the victim’s 22 gunshot wounds, an assistant medical examiner explained how gunpowder stippling left on Matthews’ face meant that the shots were fired at close range, within two feet of the victim’s head. The examiner also identified fragments of ammunition that she recovered during Matthews’ autopsy.
Closing statements from counsel and the commencement of jury deliberations are expected on July 31.