Police are confirming that the man shot and killed Friday afternoon in Charles Village was Donatello Fenner, a 22-year-old who has long been on law enforcement radar as a leader of a North Baltimore gang.
Fenner was said to be a ranking member of the Young Gorilla Family gang, which police have said was linked to much of the violence in the Barclay neighborhood in recent years. Fenner eluded serious prosecution, but in a June 2008 Sun article, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III singled him out as someone they were watching as part of an increased effort to target violent individuals.
"We try to keep very good track of him. We think he's a catalyst for violence in the neighborhood," Bealefeld said of Fenner.
Bealefeld may have known more than he let on at the time. Fenner would be charged a few months later and held without bond on charges of attempted murder, stemming from a May 2008 shooting. The charges were dropped in August 2009 by prosecutors and Fenner was released. It was not immediately clear what caused the case to fall apart. He has since been picked up on assault charges, in November, and was awaiting a March 25 court date.
Despite its reputation, Barcay has been one of the biggest success stories amid Baltimore's drop in homicides. Ten people were gunned down there in 2007 alone, but in the two years and almost three months since then, there have been only three killings.
It's not clear whether Fenner was targeted or whether it was a robbery gone wrong, but as always when gang leaders are taken out, police are bracing for retribution. Much of the city's violence is retaliatory, and a well-known gang leader's death is as likely to spur retaliation as anything.
One of Fenner's handgun arrests came days after news reports say his cousin, Vic Fenner, was gunned down. Vic's death was profiled in USA Today in 2007; he was described as a success story whose death devastated his classmates and teachers.