Shots ‘Sounded Like Machine Gunfire,’ Police Officer Says

By Andrew Michaels - July 14, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

While patrolling Baltimore’s southern district in the early morning hours of March 26, 2021, gunshots rang out several blocks away. It was at this time that an officer with the Baltimore Police Department responded to Bella Roma Pizza on Washington Boulevard and found Cameron Green’s lifeless body laying inside and a severely wounded man on a nearby stoop.

On July 13, Anthony Priester began his jury trial for Green’s murder before 12 jurors, three alternates, and Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Jeannie Hong. The defendant is charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to first-degree murder, and five weapons charges.

“It sounded like machine gunfire,” the officer testified on Wednesday afternoon as he recalled hearing the gunfire from blocks away.

The officer’s body camera footage played on a TV to his right while he explained how he quickly assessed the scene and then returned to his patrol car to retrieve a tourniquet to slow the wounded man’s bleeding. Although alert, the officer said, the victim soon became lethargic, having been shot in his left hand, leg, and buttocks.

Medics pronounced Green dead at the scene shortly after 1 a.m. after being shot 22 times all over his body, including his head, and sustaining six wounds from bullet fragments.

The assistant state’s attorney prosecuting the case informed the jury that Green and another man were eating and chatting at the pizzeria on the 1100 block of Washington Boulevard when a damaged, dark gray Honda Accord with no tags parked in front the eatery along W. Cross Street. Five masked gunmen then got out of the car and opened fire at Bella Roma, leaving behind 63 shell casings, 23 projectiles, and 17 bullet fragments before driving away.

“They engaged in a massacre of Cameron Green,” the prosecutor said, detailing how the second victim managed to escape out the pizzeria’s side door.

The prosecutor noted that Priester was the last to open fire. However, Priester’s defense attorney, Creston Smith, confirmed with the assistant medical examiner that no connection could be made between Green’s gunshot wounds and whether they came from the last shooter.

A jacket, sneakers, and the Honda were later recovered, which the prosecutor said would be shown to the jury during the course of the anticipated five-day trial.

Six days after the shooting, officers executed a search and seizure warrant on Priester’s home, where they saw him drive away with a woman in a white Hyundai Elantra. Police followed Priester who was then seen throwing a black handgun out of the driver’s side window before crashing into another vehicle at the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Birchwood Avenue.

“Guns change hands in Baltimore City,” said Smith as he explained that there was no forensic evidence placing Priester at the scene.

Police confirmed that the handgun belonging to Priester matched one that was used in the shooting a week prior.

The defendant’s trial is expected to continue Thursday morning.