City police have charged a 15-year-old Baltimore boy with first-degree murder in the shotgun killing of a 45-year-old man Dec. 19 in the Lafayette Courts public housing project. Police believe the shooting death was drug-related.

The boy charged with the killing, Tyree David Moorehead of the 100 block of North Colvin Street, was the second city teen-ager in the past week to be charged as an adult with first-degree murder.

He was believed to be the fifth city teen-ager so charged in the past year.

The victim, Larry Don Scott, was shot while in a high-rise lobby during an argument over drugs, city homicide detectives said.

The Moorehead youth was arrested at 8 p.m. Saturday after investigators, who had been looking for him since the shooting, received a tip that he was staying with a friend in the 2600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police said that they believe he intercepted Mr. Scott, 45, in the lobby of Lafayette Courts, in the 100 block of Aisquith Street, and shot him once in the abdomen with a shotgun. The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m., police said.

Mr. Scott, of the 100 block of Albemarle Street, died about nine hours later at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The housing project is known as a nefarious city drug market, and the shooting had the earmarks of a drug-related execution, said homicide detective Robert J. Bowman.

"We've had several drug-related murders in that area and in that building, so it would seem that drugs were the issue here," Detective Bowman said. "It wouldn't be unusual to see anyone this young involved in this kind of activity, either."

Tyree, who also has been charged with handgun violations, was being held without bail at the Baltimore City Detention Center last night.

Last Tuesday, city police arrested a 14-year-old, Leonard Rockwell of the 800 block of East Chase Street, in connection with a street robbery in the 1000 block of Valley Street, another area known for drug trafficking.