A teen-ager who surrendered to police yesterday was charged with fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl, another young victim of the violence that increasingly is claiming Baltimore's children.
Police said Bryant Edward Howard, 18, of the 700 block of N. Grantley St., turned himself in to the Eastern District police station, and was charged with first-degree murder.
A homicide detective said investigators do not believe the suspect's story that he accidentally shot the girl, whom he knew. "We're not considering it an accident," said Lt. Wendell France.
The investigator said the suspect and victim exchanged words just before the shooting, but he would not comment on what was said or a possible motive. "We don't know what happened," Lieutenant France said.
Police said the man may have called Kenya's mother two hours after the slaying to apologize.
"He said, 'Miss Bit, I made a mistake and shot Kenya,' " said the mother, Annetta Rogers, whose nickname is Miss Bit. "Then he said 'Oh, my God' and hung up."
Ms. Rogers, 34, who lives in Southwest Baltimore, was unable to identify the voice, and police said yesterday that they were trying to determine if the suspect made the call.
Kenya was shot about 1 a.m. after an evening of watching television. She stepped out of her cousin's rowhouse in the 1900 block of N. Collington Ave., apparently to get some fresh air.
Police said a bullet fired from a large-caliber handgun hit her in the left shoulder, traveled downward and lodged in her chest.
"She kept trying to get up," said her 21-year-old cousin, Tonya Perkins, who was sleeping when she heard the gunshot and peered out of her second-floor bedroom window. "At first she looked OK. Then her eyes rolled to the back of her head."
Doctors at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center pronounced Kenya dead about 3:30 a.m. She was the 37th gunshot victim zTC under the age of 16 treated at the hospital this year, and the third one to die.
Since 1993, trauma doctors at the hospital have treated 65 children with bullet wounds, more than double the 32 victims treated in the previous 24 months. In the past four years, 10 of those children have died.
The city enacted a curfew law five months ago to protect children from such violence. The law makes it illegal for children under the age of 17 to be on the street after 11 p.m. on weekdays.
"The curfew is not working," said Dr. Charles Paidas, director of the pediatric trauma service at the center. "It is a very sickening feeling," the doctor said of treating young gunshot victims. "It humbles the trauma surgeons. There is very little we can do. Many of these injuries are lethal. By the time these children get to the emergency room, they are frequently in a life-threatening situation.
"We are all humbled by the 'why?' " Dr. Paidas said. "That's the phrase we use around here. We don't have an explanation. Families can't help us. They have no answer. But also, they can't tell us why a kid is out that late at night."
The curfew law allows parents to be prosecuted if their children are caught breaking the law, and the mayor said at a news conference touting the legislation in July that parents of violators would be taken to court. But city officials were unable to say yesterday if such penalties have been used.
"The key issue in enforcing the curfew is for the parents and adults to make sure the young people stay in," Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday. "In a city as large as ours, the police aren't going to be able to see every child . . .I don't think it is reasonable for anyone to assume that a curfew law is going to be able to keep every single child inside."
The mayor did express surprise and dismay that more children have been shot this year than in 1993, when a series of high-profile shootings outraged residents and led to enactment of the curfew.
Kenya lived with her mother and her 9-year-old sister in a three-bedroom apartment at the Woodington Garden Apartments in the 200 block of Diener Place in Irvington.
Yesterday, family members remembered Kenya as a lively girl who enjoyed dancing, watching movies and constantly talking to her boyfriend on the telephone. She had taken sign language lessons and wanted to teach the deaf. But problems at school prompted her transfer last week from West Baltimore Middle School to Calverton Middle School.
And on Thursday, she was suspended for cutting class. That day, she visited her cousin's house in East Baltimore, where they talked about plans for the holidays. For Christmas, Kenya wanted new clothes, tennis shoes and an electronic pager.
Thursday night, she stayed up late with her 15-year-old cousin, Tamara Sheridan, watching television. Shortly before 1 a.m., Kenya stepped outside for some fresh air, Tamara said.
"She always would go out, just to walk around," said her other cousin, Ms. Perkins, adding that hearing gunshots in the neighborhood is common. "I pay it no mind. I thought my cousin was downstairs. I had no knowledge she was outside."
Kenya's mother couldn't understand the slaying. "I'm in the dark," she said. "Somebody's got to tell me something. She's got no reason to die like this."