Tyrone Allsberry, 66, entered 25th Street Market in East Baltimore in a hurry.
He approached Willie Joyner, 14, and asked him a question that all too often proves deadly in Baltimore: “Where?s my money?”
When the teen said he didn?t know what Allsberry was talking about, the man took out a knife and stabbed the boy in the chest, police said.
Joyner?s slaying was one of 14 last month in Baltimore, two of which have been solved.
The deaths follow the city?s most murderous year since 1999, when 282 became the victims of homicide.
While a homicide every other day might seem like a staggering figure to an outsider, police say the statistic marks an improvement from last year?s January homicide tally, 28.
In fact, the January homicide total was the lowest in 30 years.
“We?re not just talking about guns,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld. “We?re really doing something. We?re not sitting on our tail lamenting the violence.”
In the last six months, the city has experienced 112 homicides, which is the lowest figure since 1988, said Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford.
Still, there are those who say the killing has gone on too long ? and that too many are murdered over too little.
April Owens still can?t believe that her 18-year-old son, Zechariah Hallback, is gone.
Hallback was shot to death Jan. 9 during a robbery while waiting for a bus at East 33rd Street and The Alameda.
“It?s unbelievable that somebody would take somebody?s life for nothing,” Owens said. “It?s been really hard, especially on his brother and his sister.”
At about 8 p.m. that day, Hallback had just left a meeting of the Algebra Project, a national mathematics literacy campaign aimed at helping poor students, and was standing at the bus stop with two friends. Aman at the bus stop pulled out a gun and demanded their money and cell phones, police said.
The robber ordered them into a back alley and told them to lie facedown on the ground. Then, police said, he shot Hallback in the head.
Community activist and radio show host Darren Muhammed says he wonders why police aren?t doing more.
“Young men and women have been robbed on that corner for years,” he said. “There?s no reason why they didn?t have more patrols and stepped-up enforcement. If you?re black and poor and you?re living in East Baltimore, you?re not getting attention.”
Muhammed said Hallback was the model of a good kid.
“He was doing all the things we want young people to do. He was participating in the Algebra Project. How can the buses be safe if the bus stops aren?t safe?”
Bealefeld said detectives were working hard on the case.
“There are some developments in terms of trying to find a suspect,” Bealefeld said. “We?re certainly not at an arrest warrant stage, but they?re looking in some very specific directions. Whether they pan out or not remains to be seen. There?s a lot of work to be done. I feel like they?re making progress.”
For Owens, the pain is nearly too much to bear ? and she still has to worry about her other children?s safety.
“My oldest son, someone tried to rob him too,” she said. “You can?t go to work and come home in this city without somebody trying to rob you.”
JANUARY HOMICIDE VICTIMS
» Jan 1: Lindwood Colvin, 28, shooting, 800 Bethune Road
» Jan. 4: Jerome Waters, 32, shooting, 2800 Kentucky Ave.
» Jan. 8: Jarrell Brown, 30, shooting, 3000 W. North Ave.
» Jan. 9: Zechariah Hallback, 18, shooting, 1500 E. 33rd St.
» Jan. 12: Willie Joyner, 18, stabbing, 400 E. 25th St.
» Jan. 14: Edward Smith, 14, shooting, 800 Bethune Road *
» Jan. 16: Lisa Holley, 38, blunt force trauma, 2700 Pelham Ave. *
» Jan. 17: Isaiah McKeiver, 19, shooting, 3500 Cliftmount Ave.
» Jan. 17: Collin Mazyck, 24, shooting, 2700 Taylor Ave.
» Jan. 19: Effrem Kearny, 20, shooting, 1500 Holbrook St.
» Jan. 24: Sidney Millner, 25, shooting, 1100 N. Stricker St.
» Jan. 25: Irvin Lawson, 32, shooting, 900 Pennsylvania Ave.
» Jan. 25: Michael Johnson, 24, shooting, 2000 W. Lafayette Ave.
» Jan. 30: Darrell Holmes, 17, shooting, 2200 Penrose Ave.
* Resulted in arrest
