The DNA of two unknown men — not the two young men facing murder charges — was found on a Halloween-style mask police believe was used during the killing of former Baltimore City Councilman Kenneth Harris Sr., according to a laboratory report revealed Thursday.
The mask had been at the center of the police investigation into Harris’ Sept. 20 killing — and was mentioned publicly by Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld during the search for the suspects.
But the DNA of neither Charles McGaney, 19, nor Gary Collins, 20 — the two men charged in the case — was found on the mask, according to a police laboratory report. Instead, the DNA of two unknown males was located on the mask.
“My client pleaded not guilty and we look forward to proving his innocence in court,” said attorney Maureen Rowland, who represents McGaney. “A lot of the information released about my client is inaccurate.”
One of the main detectives investigating Harris’ murder, Robert Patton, retired last week.
In charging documents, police wrote that both Collins and McGaney were “positively identified through photographic array and positively linked by his DNA to the physical evidence recovered by police.”
McGaney’s and Collins’ DNA was found on a latex glove recovered in a nearby alley, while Collins’ DNA was detected on a green money-print bandanna that police took into evidence, the lab report shows. Both men live near the scene of the crime.
Police allege Harris’ killers discarded the items as they fled the Haven Lounge in the Northwood Shopping Plaza in Northeast Baltimore.
Robbers “ambushed” Harris as he stood in front of the Haven Lounge with owner Keith Covington, 54, according to charging documents. Harris attempted to run to his car and drive off, but was shot in his back through the driver’s window, police said.
Inside the lounge, the shooters stole a woman’s pocketbook, Covington’s wallet containing $160, and $1,375 from a safe, police said. A trial of physical evidence led detectives to an escape route, where they recovered Covington’s wallet and a skeleton mask worn by a suspect during the murder, charging documents state. Police said they found “several other pieces of evidence from which laboratory technicians were able to develop DNA profiles.”
During their investigation, police said they located confidential witnesses who identified Collins and McGaney as the men caught on surveillance video walking in the shopping center — with McGaney carrying the skeleton mask — in the moments before the shooting.
But defense attorneys said the police have been distributing misinformation about the evidence.
“They’ve made it out to be that our guy’s DNA” is on the main piece of evidence, said Jan Bledsoe, Collins’ attorney. “That’s not the case.”
Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are awaiting an April 28 trial.
