One man was killed and another seriously wounded yesterday morning in a shootout behind a Calvert Street apartment building in downtown Baltimore, police said.
Homicide detectives also reported another man died of injuries in an unrelated shooting late Sunday on North Fremont Avenue.
So far this year, 296 people have been slain in Baltimore compared with 264 at this time last year, police said.
The shootout occurred about 3 a.m. in the 1000 block of N. Calvert St., when one of two men pulled a .357-caliber Magnum handgun on another man in an attempt to collect money he supposedly owed them, police said.
But the intended victim, who was accosted by the men in a rear entrance of the four-story apartment building, pulled out a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol and opened fire, police said.
In the barrage of gunfire that followed, the two men trying to collect money were both shot at least once in the chest, with one collapsing on the ground and the other running away despite his wounds, police said.
Pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center was Alexander Smith, 23, of the 300 block of N. Robinson St.
The second man, whom police have not been able to identify, showed up in the emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital several hours later with five bullet wounds. He was listed in critical but stable condition last night.
Police said the third man could not be found after the shooting.
The Magnum handgun was recovered shortly after the shooting in a car in the 1700 block of E. Monument St., police said.
In the North Fremont Avenue shooting, a 30-year-old West Baltimore man was killed during an apparent robbery attempt near Edmondson Avenue.
Police said the victim, Darryl Marable of the 900 block of Argyle Ave., was shot once in the head at close range about 11 p.m. He died two hours later at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
No arrests had been made late yesterday afternoon, but police were talking to several witnesses.