Doorbell camera footage leads to murder charge in Baltimore shooting
Andre Smith was charged with murder after surveillance footage from a tin can doorbell camera helped identify him as the suspect in the shooting death of Rodney Harrison.
Baltimore man charged with murder after doorbell camera places him at scene
Doorbell surveillance footage retrieved from a tin can on a shared front porch helped Baltimore detectives identify and charge a man with the murder of his mother's neighbour, foxbaltimore.com reports.
Rodney Harrison, 61, was shot in the back on the 3800 block of Moravia Road on 25 September at around 9:50 p.m. Officers found him lying near the entrance to his home; he was taken to hospital by ambulance and later died from his injuries.
Detectives charged his neighbour's son, Andre Smith, with murder on 27 October.
Court records describe the layout of the property as central to the case. Harrison lived in one apartment of a single-family house that had been divided into separate units, sharing a porch with the adjoining apartment — where his on-again, off-again girlfriend of seven years resided.
According to the charging documents, Harrison's ex-girlfriend had sent him to a liquor store before the shooting. While he was gone, Smith — who was at her apartment that evening — stepped outside, then came back in and told his mother: "Get your man… I'm not dealing with this." Smith then left the premises and did not return.
Shortly after his departure, his mother went outside and found Harrison bleeding at the foot of the porch steps. She asked another neighbour to call the police.
The doorbell camera mounted on the tin can on the front porch provided investigators with a precise timeline of the final minutes before Harrison's death. Footage showed Harrison knocking on his ex-girlfriend's door at 9:41 p.m. Smith answered, and the two men began arguing about money. At that point, according to charging documents, the side porch handrail appeared to be intact.
Three minutes later, at 9:44 p.m., the footage showed Harrison's ex-girlfriend stepping outside — by which time the handrail appeared to be broken. A forensics investigator recovered a single 9-millimetre cartridge casing at the top of the porch steps. Harrison's body was found at the bottom.
Smith has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and multiple firearm violations.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)