The bench trial of Lorenzo Thomas, 49, continued before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams on Dec. 11 with the testimony of late victim Tyree Lee’s girlfriend and a witness account from a then-resident of the Northwest Baltimore neighborhood where Lee, 39, was fatally shot.
Thomas, 49, was found guilty of murder and illegal firearm possession in May 2023, but his case was remanded by the Appellate Court of Maryland the day after last Christmas.
Lee was shot multiple times on the 3900 block of Penhurst Avenue the afternoon of March 27, 2019. The neighbor who witnessed the shooting testified to remembering “a scuffle” outside his apartment, followed by approximately two or three gunshots. His bedroom and living room windows faced Penhurst Avenue, he told attorneys, and gave him a “clear view” of the altercation and subsequent shooting.
He recalled seeing the victim “trying to squirm away from” his assailants before breaking free and fleeing. Several suspects stood around Lee. Upon seeing Lee flee, one of the suspects grabbed a firearm from another and chased Lee down before standing over him and firing the fatal shots. “He finished him off,” the witness said. Lee was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Lee’s ex-girlfriend, a self-admitted former drug abuser, told counsel she entered rehab the day after the incident and has since remained clean from hard drugs. At the time, she was using heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana daily, and had bought crack that same morning. Lee himself was using as well.
Lee’s ex-girlfriend claimed on the stand that she and Lee, who had been dating for about a year prior to his death, were living “wherever we could find a place to stay at the time.” Thomas had offered them housing in exchange for about $20 to $25 nightly, and the couple resided there temporarily with another older resident whom they knew as “Snacks.”
The day before the incident, Thomas informally evicted the couple, she said.
“They told us to leave the house because we didn’t pay,” Lee’s girlfriend told the court. “And we left and ran into someone who was already having a conflict with Lorenzo.”
Locals knew the unnamed man as “Cuzz,” she said. She recalled hearing a gunshot from within the residence, hearing Cuzz exclaim he was shot, and seeing Cuzz and Lee flee the house. She fled shortly after and met up with Lee’s mother, who lived a few miles from the area she and Lee often frequented.
The next morning, after using crack and taking a nap, she met up with Lee and another man she knew as “Tony,” and the trio walked toward Dolfield Avenue. The shooting occurred shortly after, causing Lee’s girlfriend to flee into a store in panic, separating from Lee and Tony. When police arrived, she refrained from giving them Thomas’ name. On the stand, she admitted she withheld the defendant’s name because she was afraid at the time, and only “kinda” disclosed what she knew with investigators.
It was Lee’s mother, she said, who convinced her to speak with detectives.
“She told me I needed to be honest and tell the truth about who did it,” said Lee’s girlfriend on the stand.
Detectives transported her to the homicide unit for a taped interview, during which she admitted she believed Thomas was the shooter. Photographic arrays were conducted, and she identified Thomas.
The trial is set to continue on Dec. 12 with testimony from a final witness and closing arguments from counsel.
