A 14-year-old boy was killed in his attempt to disarm his cousin’s shooter nearly two years ago when gunfire rang out at the Mondawmin metro station.
At the start of homicide defendant Kendrick Henson’s jury trial on Sept. 8, a Baltimore City prosecutor told jurors that Henson, 17, allegedly pointed a handgun at the face of the 14-year-old’s cousin and shot him in the shoulder. The shooting victim did return fire during the incident on July 21, 2024.
Jasper Davis, 14, then jumped on the back of the then-15-year-old defendant, who continued shooting at Davis’s cousin. Henson pulled out a firearm “at some point,” defense attorney Lawrence Rosenberg said, and ran away after the 14-year-old boy was shot, disposing of the weapon.
Rosenberg said that before the shooting, Davis, his cousin and a third individual were wearing masks and approached the defendant on Bryant Avenue, where Henson’s father lived. One of the individuals was also fidgeting with their waistband, suggesting the presence of a firearm.
“Words were exchanged,” defense counsel said, but the three people left shortly after, while Henson and two females who were with him got on an MTA bus by Mondawmin Mall.
In his opening statement, the prosecutor said the surviving victim attempted to run away from Henson as the defendant continued to shoot at him. When Davis jumped on his back, Henson “flung him off” and allegedly shot him in his armpit. The boy began to run away before collapsing on the station’s escalator, which carried his body to the lower floor.
Davis was pronounced dead around 8:40 p.m. at Sinai Hospital and his cousin was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, according to court documents.
Rosenberg argued that this was a “classic case of the [Baltimore Police] rushing to judgment” and evidence will show that police knew the third individual but never pursued their alleged involvement.
During the police department’s investigation, the prosecutor said, multiple videos captured the shooting from beginning to end, including two camera angles at the top and one camera angle at the bottom of the metro station’s escalator. Video was also recovered from the MTA bus, showing the defendant and two females aboard the bus after their initial encounter with the three people but before the shooting.
“‘There they go. There they go right there,’” the prosecutor said, quoting Henson from the MTA bus footage as he spotted Davis and the others. The prosecutor explained that Henson and the two females got off the bus and followed the victims.
Rosenberg offered a different perspective, citing that Henson and the two females got off the bus because they feared Davis, the shooting victim and the third individual were going to board the bus.
Defense counsel further stated that police initially “missed” that the surviving victim had a gun and pointed it at his client’s face prior to Henson retrieving his weapon — part of the investigation that was later revealed to the prosecution, Rosenberg said. Six 9mm shell casings were recovered from the crime scene, two of which the defense attorney said were from Henson’s firearm and the remaining four from the shooting victim’s firearm.
Testimony is expected to begin Sept. 9 for the five-day trial before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Michael A. DiPietro.
