Trial Begins for 22-Year-Old Man Charged with 2022 Belair Homicide

By Inacent McKeithan [former] - April 13, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On April 13, a 22-year-old man charged with the fatal shooting of Adrian Morris appeared for his first day of trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock. 

Defendant Terrill Johnson was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony violent crime, having a loaded handgun on his person, and having a loaded handgun in a vehicle in connection to the shooting of 19-year-old Morris on April 28, 2022.

During opening statements, the assistant state’s attorney introduced the facts of this case.

According to the assistant state’s attorney, on April 28, 2022, Johnson and Morris engaged in a verbal altercation in a liquor store on the 5300 block of Belair Road. The assistant state’s attorney disclosed that nearby surveillance footage showed Morris approaching Johnson’s red Honda before being shot in the chest from the driver-side window – which was occupied by Johnson. 

“The great thing about video surveillance is that it does not lie,” said the assistant state’s attorney.

Stephanie Salter, the lead public defender representing Johnson, asserted that Morris allegedly approached Taylor’s car with threats to “shoot up the car” if Johnson did not comply with financial demands. According to Salter, Taylor shot once at Morris and fled in his vehicle out of fear that Morris would shoot and endanger Taylor’s 22-month-old child and girlfriend. 

Salter insisted that Taylor “did what Maryland law allows him to do” as it relates to the reasoning behind Taylor using a firearm against Morris. Salter indicated that Taylor was “terrified” and allegedly had a “fraction of a second” to decide how to handle the altercation due to his daughter being in the car. 

The assistant state’s attorney called their first witness – a Baltimore City Police Officer who was the primary officer assigned to the case.  

This trial is scheduled to continue on April 13.