Pimlico Road Shooting Suspect’s Trial Postponed

By Kavya Vandavasi - June 7, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa K. Copeland postponed the trial date for a 24-year-old murder defendant in a June 7 hearing.

Aamir Benton is charged with two charges of first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, conspiracy to use a firearm in a felony or violent crime, firearm possession with a felony conviction, having a handgun in a vehicle and carrying a handgun on his person in connection to the death of 31-year-old Phillip Wallace on June 30, 2022.

Judge Copeland postponed the trial date to Oct. 21 due to a filing error from the defense regarding Benton and his co-defendant, James Jenkins III, which resulted in both having separate trial dates and representation. Both co-defendants will now be represented by Andrea Jaskulsky and the trial is expected to last four days. 

According to documents from the District Court of Maryland, the Baltimore Police Department found evidence of a shooting in an Acura RDX in the parking lot of Pimlico Elementary School on the 4800 block of Pimlico Road.

After reviewing video footage, Wallace was seen in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, a suspect thought to be Benton in the passenger’s seat and a second suspect in the backseat. Gunshot flashes were observed within the vehicle, and soon after, both suspects left the vehicle. Benton later returned to retrieve an item from the passenger’s side. The suspects fled together, and Wallace was pronounced dead at the scene from the gunshot wounds. 

The Acura RDX driven on the date of the murder would later be identified as the same Acura Benton arrived at his probation meeting and parole in, and Benton would later identify himself in surveillance footage from the 3100 block of Belvedere Avenue.