Ashley Harris wasn?t doing anything wrong. The pregnant woman was standing in a crowd when she was gunned down by a stray bullet during a drive-by shooting ? killing her and her unborn son. The bullet, her grandparents say, struck Harris directly in the heart.
Now her grandparents, Enoch, 62, and Janie Carver, 66, say they can?t enjoy the holiday season ? or any day.
“People say, ?You get over it,? but you never get over it,” Janie Carver said. “It?s just tearing us up.”
What?s worse, the East Baltimore couple says, they?re watching the case against Harris? alleged killers unravel. One suspect had his murder charges dropped. Another is free on bail awaiting trial.
“We?re very upset and angry because we think they should go to jail,” Enoch Carver said.
In May, Baltimore City prosecutors dropped all charges against suspected gunman Kevin Lomax, 20, because they “did not have sufficient evidence and witness statements,” said Margaret Burns, a city prosecutors? office spokeswoman.
Harris, 19, was killed March 31, 2006, outside Club Choices on the 1800 block of North Charles Street.
At about 1 a.m., a fight spilled out into the street, and a gunman fired four or five shots from a burgundy Acura, which sped away with three males inside, including Oscar Adams, 20, and Lomax, according to a police report.
Harris, six months pregnant, was “merely a spectator” killed by “random gunfire,” the report states.
Lomax?s attorney, Margaret Mead, says her cleared client was driving the Acura while a passenger fired.
“He was driving the vehicle away from the scene when the shots were fired,” Mead said. “He was in the car, but he was not shooting and had no knowledge that the shooting was going to occur.”
Now Adams alone is facing a first-degree murder charge when he stands trial Dec. 5. Adams is walking the streets after his parents offered their house as collateral for his $50,000 bail.
“He should be put away for a long time,” Janie Carver said. “I don?t care if he never sees the streets again. … At least his family and friends can talk to him. They?re probably having Thanksgiving dinner with him right now. What do I have? Nothing.”
In their East Baltimore row house, the couple who raised Harris since she was 5 wonder why an innocent victim?s death doesn?t seem to count.
“We haven?t seen any justice,” Enoch Carver said. “They treat this girl?s life like it?s nothing.”
Staring at pictures of their granddaughter Thursday, the couple could only struggle through another lonely holiday.
“Ashley loved to eat, but she especially loved turkey,” Janie Carver said. “This Thanksgiving will be hard. The last Thanksgiving was hard. Every holiday is hard. Every day is hard.”
