The fatal shooting of a Bowie man Friday night in Annapolis exemplifies a pattern in which robbers are targeting Hispanic men in the city, Annapolis police said.
Witnesses told police that Jose David Martinez, 36, who came to Annapolis to visit his girlfriend, was drinking with friends in a wooded area outside Parole Liquors, near the 2100 block of Forest Drive, when two men approached him and attempted to rob him.
A fight broke out between Martinez and the two men, and one of the men shot Martinez in the head, police said.
Martinez was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police say there is no indication Martinez knew the men who shot him.
Annapolis police spokesman Officer Hal Dalton said Hispanic males have become robbery targets over the last two years in the city.
Dalton said criminals hear “by word of mouth” that Hispanic immigrants are hesitant to report robberies to police, especially if “their immigration status is in doubt.”
Dalton also said that Hispanic males are thought to carry cashon them.
“Criminals share information, too,” Dalton said.
City police responded to the scene at about 11:30 p.m.
Witnesses said the two suspects fled into the wooded area near the liquor store.
Police cordoned off the wooded area until about 2:00 a.m. and searched for the suspects with Anne Arundel County Police and Maryland State Police. Police were unable to find any suspects.
This is the fourth homicide in the city this year.
Dalton said the city averages about four to six homicides a year.
