They wanted him dead.
Murder witness Carl Lackl was the target of a conspiracy involving at least three suspects, several bogus phone calls, two cars and one man pointing him out shortly before a fatal drive-by shooting last month, Baltimore County police said.
“It?s horrible this many people wanted my brother dead,” said Lackl?s sister Kim Underwood. “His 2-year-old daughter, Julia, was out there with him when they shot him. She walks around trying to figure out where he is. We love and miss Carl very much and we?re very happy that they made another arrest.”
Lackl, 38, an employee of a Dundalk fencing company, was not under witness protection after being subpoenaed to testify in a city homicide case, police said.
Police charged Marcus Pearson, 26, on Thursday with first-degree murder in the death of Lackl, who was shot outside his Rosedale home on July 2 at 8:46 p.m.
Pearson lured Lackl, a key witness in a Baltimore City murder trial, out of his home along Philadelphia Road by making bogus telephone calls to him about the sale of his car, police said.
Then while Lackl stood outside waiting for the nonexistent buyer of his vehicle, Pearson traveled by his house in a vehicle and pointed out Lackl, police said.
Two men in a second car then gunned him down, police said.
Jonathan “Brazy” Cornish, 15, and Ronald Williams, 21, both of Baltimore, also have been charged with the murder. Pearson, Cornish and Williams were denied bail and await trial.
Cornish and Williams each made incriminating statements to friends and acquaintances after the shooting, police said.
Cornish bragged over the phone to a police informant about “shooting a white guy three timeswith a .44-caliber handgun,” and Williams told an informant he did some “crazy [expletive]” the night Lackl was killed, charging documents state.
Lackl was described as a “helpful” witness scheduled to testify in a Baltimore City Circuit Court murder trial against Patrick Byers, 22, of Baltimore. He had happened upon the murder scene while taking a lunch break, prosecutors said. Byers? trial was rescheduled for September because of Lackl?s killing.
If police determine Lackl was killed to keep him from testifying against Byers, Lackl?s previous statements could be used in court under a 2005 state witness-protection law, prosecutors said.
In Baltimore City, more than 160 families of witnesses have sought the assistance of law enforcement in 2007, statistics show. So far this year, 20 of those families have been moved into safe housing.
Lackl?s family recently established the Carl Lackl Jr. Trust Fund for his daughter that citizens can donate to at any 1st Mariner Bank.
