June 20--Four people were shot in Baltimore between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including two fatal shootings that pushed the city's murder count to 100 for the year.
The murder victims were identified by police as 18-year-old Tavon Whelchel and 36-year-old Lewis Womack IV. Both cases are open and anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.
Whelchel, of the 200 block of Pulaski St., was found after police received a call at about 6:20 p.m. for a shooting in the 2100 block of W. Pratt St., in the Carrollton Ridge neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore. Residents directed officers to Whelchel, who was in the street suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma center, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later, police said.
At 7:12 p.m., police responded to reports of a double shooting in the 2600 block of W. Franklin St. in the Rosemont neighborhood on the city's west side. They found a 25-year-old man lying in the doorway of a pharmacy. He told police he had been shot by a man with a handgun. He suffered gunshot wounds to the neck, leg and hand and was taken to an area hospital, police said.
Shortly after that event, a second man, 24, walked into an area hospital a short distance from the same shooting scene. He told police he had been sitting in his car, when a man began shooting at the vehicle. He sustained wounds to his right arm.
Police have not yet established a connection, but say that both shootings occurred at the same location.
At about 2 a.m., police were called to the 4000 block of Boarman Ave. in the Dorchester neighborhood of Northwest Baltimore, where Womack was found in a walkway in front of a home suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso. Womack, who lived in the block according to police, died at Sinai Hospital.
Police said drugs were recovered from the scene, but did not give details on where or whether they were believed to be related to the killing, and homicide detectives did not list a suspected motive.
The killing is the 15th in the Northwestern District this year, where 18 people were killed in all of 2012, according to records maintained by The Sun.
At this point last year, the city had seen 96 homicides, and ended the year with 196, a 30-year low. After a spike in May, killings are generally on the same place as last year.
There were 93 victims at this point in 2010, when 223 were killed for the year; 148 were killed at this point in 2007 when 282 were killed during that year.
Baltimore Sun reporters Kevin Rector and Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.
Copyright 2012 - The Baltimore Sun
