Reisterstown Road Gas Station Shooter Pleads Guilty

By Racquel Bazos [former] - April 3, 2024
Uncategorized |

Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Dana M. Middleton accepted a 53-year-old’s guilty plea to weapons charges April 2. 

Zarzine Wardlaw was charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, firearm use in a felony violent crime, rifle or shotgun possession with a felony conviction, rifle or shotgun possession with a mental disability, illegal possession of ammunition and reckless endangerment in connection to a May 22, 2023, incident.

Wardlaw accepted the prosecutor’s plea offer of 15 years, suspending all but five years, for rifle or shotgun possession with a felony conviction and a consecutive but fully suspended sentence of a year for illegal possession of ammunition. Wardlaw will also be required to serve five years of supervised probation and register a gun offender upon release. 

According to the prosecution’s statement of facts, Wardlaw got into an argument with someone inside a gas station on the 5500 block of Reisterstown Road before driving across the street and shooting at the gas station with a 9mm rifle. Baltimore Police Department officers found multiple shell casings at the scene, which were consistent with the weapon police dogs found in a grassy area nearby.

Wardlaw’s attorney Phillip C. Levin asked Judge Middleton to consider making any mental health treatment recommended by parole or probation mandatory. 

Judge Middleton sentenced Wardlaw in accordance to the plea agreement and ruled that whatever mental health treatment was deemed necessary for Wardlaw would be a required element of his probation.