Joon Am Kang |
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Baltimore County police have charged two additional suspects in the fatal shooting of a liquor-store owner in July.
They were identified Friday as Robert Napolean Crowder Jr., 30, who is accused of being the gunman, and Randolph Lee Hughes, 29. Both men face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Four other men have already been charged with those crimes in the case, and all six are suspected of being connected to a string of 16 robberies and attempted robberies of convenience and liquor stores in Baltimore County and Baltimore City between July 4 and July 30.
The four whose arrests were announced Thursday are Gregory Jerome Horne, 23; Keith Joshua Johnson Jr., 24; Abayomi Nikomo McKenzie, 25; and Tavon Anton Shuler, 30.
Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman, said Crowder is believed to have fired the shot that killed Joon Am Kang, 57, during a robbery attempt July 16 in his store, Putty Hill Liquors, on the 7900 block of Belair Road. Toohey said Shuler was with Crowder at the time of the shooting.
In a surveillance video, one of two men who entered the store can be seen pointing a handgun at Kang and firing at his chest. Kang slumped to the floor and his assailants ran off.
In the video, detectives recognized the pair as members of a group they believed were behind several other robberies in both the county and in Baltimore. An investigation into the attempted robbery of a Hamilton Avenue convenience store July 30 led police to arrest two suspects. During questioning, the identities of the other four emerged.
Some of the suspects admitted to their involvement in the robberies, police said. The detectives learned that all six men took part in planning the holdups and sharing the proceeds.
The first-degree murder counts were filed against the four suspects charged Thursday because they were "part of a conspiracy, a common scheme," Toohey said. "They are all linked to the homicide."
In August, Baltimore County police officials announced a $4,000 reward to anyone who provided information leading to the arrest and conviction of Kang's killers. Half the money was to have come from Metro Crime Stoppers and half from the Korean-American Grocers and Licensed Beverage Association of Maryland. It was not clear Thursday whether anyone was eligible for the reward, a decision that Toohey said awaited a "review of information that came in and how relevant it was to the arrests."
Kang's death was a shock to his employees and fellow merchants in the Putty Hill Plaza Shopping Center, many of whom spoke of him with affection and respect. Kang, a native of South Korea who had owned the store for 15 years, was alone when the two men burst in on the night he died. He left a wife, Tae, and a 30-year-old son.
They were identified Friday as Robert Napolean Crowder Jr., 30, who is accused of being the gunman, and Randolph Lee Hughes, 29. Both men face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Four other men have already been charged with those crimes in the case, and all six are suspected of being connected to a string of 16 robberies and attempted robberies of convenience and liquor stores in Baltimore County and Baltimore City between July 4 and July 30.
The four whose arrests were announced Thursday are Gregory Jerome Horne, 23; Keith Joshua Johnson Jr., 24; Abayomi Nikomo McKenzie, 25; and Tavon Anton Shuler, 30.
Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman, said Crowder is believed to have fired the shot that killed Joon Am Kang, 57, during a robbery attempt July 16 in his store, Putty Hill Liquors, on the 7900 block of Belair Road. Toohey said Shuler was with Crowder at the time of the shooting.
In a surveillance video, one of two men who entered the store can be seen pointing a handgun at Kang and firing at his chest. Kang slumped to the floor and his assailants ran off.
In the video, detectives recognized the pair as members of a group they believed were behind several other robberies in both the county and in Baltimore. An investigation into the attempted robbery of a Hamilton Avenue convenience store July 30 led police to arrest two suspects. During questioning, the identities of the other four emerged.
Some of the suspects admitted to their involvement in the robberies, police said. The detectives learned that all six men took part in planning the holdups and sharing the proceeds.
The first-degree murder counts were filed against the four suspects charged Thursday because they were "part of a conspiracy, a common scheme," Toohey said. "They are all linked to the homicide."
In August, Baltimore County police officials announced a $4,000 reward to anyone who provided information leading to the arrest and conviction of Kang's killers. Half the money was to have come from Metro Crime Stoppers and half from the Korean-American Grocers and Licensed Beverage Association of Maryland. It was not clear Thursday whether anyone was eligible for the reward, a decision that Toohey said awaited a "review of information that came in and how relevant it was to the arrests."
Kang's death was a shock to his employees and fellow merchants in the Putty Hill Plaza Shopping Center, many of whom spoke of him with affection and respect. Kang, a native of South Korea who had owned the store for 15 years, was alone when the two men burst in on the night he died. He left a wife, Tae, and a 30-year-old son.
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I hope that all six get the maximum sentence! We don't need them on the streets.
davidwayneosedach (10/30/2009, 2:23 PM )