These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
A 17-year-old male, gun in hand, tried to carjack a 31-year-old driver in southeast Baltimore’s Brewers Hill at about 2 AM.
The driver was armed with a licensed handgun. The two exchanged gunfire, and both were wounded. The teen became unresponsive, and the driver sped off to find a police officer.
He found one about a half-mile away, near Canton Waterfront Park. He flagged down a patrol officer and said he’d been shot. Medics took him to a hospital with what the Baltimore police called “non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.”
About seven minutes later, officers were sent to the block where it had happened. “Once there,” the department’s media advisory said, “officers located an unidentified male suffering from apparent life-threatening gunshot wounds.”
The driver was treated for his wounds and released; the teen died several days later. His name was Elias Palmer.
What Palmer wanted that night depends on whom you ask. WMAR had the police saying he’d tried to rob the man. WBFF had it as an attempted carjacking, on the word of a police community relations council, and reported that the department wouldn’t confirm it.
It really doesn’t matter, though. He approached a man sitting in a vehicle, armed with a gun, and got himself shot. Two months later, Baltimore Police declared the shooting justified.
It’s tragic: A young life cut short because of his own actions. Repentance and redemption would have been better.
Sources
Primary
Media Advisory Update: Southeast District Homicide Investigation (Baltimore Police Department)
Local News
WBFF ran four items, from the morning of the shooting through the ruling.
Teen pulls gun on driver, both shot in gunfire exchange, police say (Day-of)
Baltimore police identify three recent homicide victims (Identification)
Baltimore teen dies days after gunfire exchange with driver in Brewers Hill (The death)
31-year-old man justified in fatal shooting of 17-year-old in self-defense incident (The ruling)
WMAR kept one story updated and carried the shooting in its monthly tracker.
Deadly shootout in Canton after teen allegedly tried robbing licensed gun carrier (Day-of, updated with the death and the ruling)
October 2024 Tracker: Baltimore murders and shootings (Tracker)
Teen dead after being shot by man in self-defense, Baltimore Police say (CBS Baltimore)
Man fatally shot in East Baltimore on Monday night; 2 injured after Tuesday morning shooting (Baltimore Sun)
Two Men Shot in Canton; One in Severe Condition (Baltimore Witness)
National News
Armed teen in critical condition after shootout with legal gun owner in Baltimore (The Washington Times)