I love a good puzzle, and I found a strange one while out for a walk this weekend. I usually bypass graffiti memorializing murder victims -- there's simply too much of it in the city. But one tag on the underside of a bridge caught my attention simply because of its remote location.
I found it on a bridge abutment next to a path in Wyman Park, between Hampden and the west side of the Johns Hopkins University campus. It marked the death of a "Homeboy," which doesn't exactly narrow it down, on Aug. 31 of this year.
I didn't recall any killings in this little scene urban area. The "RIP Homeboy" was written in black in a cloud next to a tag written in large red and yellow letters that spelled "puzzler." I'm guess that's the nickname for the person who wrote the graffiti. What I don't know is whether someone added the "RIP to the tag after it had been completed or if it's part of the complete piece. Does the victim have a connection to the person who did the work?
I checked our homicide map and found one killing on this date -- Nathanial Santiago, 31, who was shot and killed Aug. 31 in the 4100 block of Harris Ave. in Northeast Baltimore.
According to the brief description on the map, Santiago was entering an apartment building when he was approached by two men and got into a fight and then was shot.
I'd love to hear more details on this tag and it's connection to an Aug. 31 death.