In the Greater Mondawmin neighborhood of West Baltimore, Jarrett and Emma Engrum were like many of the community's senior citizens. They found refuge from the crime of the community in their homes.
But Tuesday night, police said, in the kitchen of the brick rowhouse in the 2200 block of Clifton Ave. that the couple has shared for eight years, Mrs. Engrum, 81, fatally shot her husband. The couple, police said, had argued.
Mrs. Engrum was arrested at the house and charged with first-degree murder, police said.
A District Court commissioner released Mrs. Engrum to the custody of relatives last night.
"This is not something that you think is going to happen here," said Rosa Cunningham, 58, who has lived in the community for 10 years. "We worry about the kids hanging out around and what they're going to do to you. Not about your mate."
Neighbors said the couple rarely seemed at odds with each other, and disputes -- which are easily heard through the walls of the two-story row homes -- seemed infrequent in the Engrum household.
"They acted just like any old couple was supposed to act," said Thomas Lewis, who lived nearby. "They sat on the porch in the summer, put out their trash cans and kept their property clean and didn't make no noise."
The couple were childhood sweethearts, who married in 1987 after each had been married before, police and neighbors said. Mr. Engrum, 84, was a retired clothing presser.
Mrs. Engrum also was charged with using a handgun in the commission of a felony. Police said a handgun, which had been fired at least once, was recovered at the scene.
Police spokeswoman Officer Sabrina V. Tapp-Harper did not disclose whether the handgun was registered to the victim or Mrs. Engrum.
Western District police, responding to a report of a shooting about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, entered the home and found Mr. Engrum on the kitchen floor bleeding from a single bullet wound to the chest. An ambulance crew arrived moments later and pronounced him dead.
Police said Mrs. Engrum told them that Mr. Engrum had assaulted her in the past and that after Tuesday's argument she feared being struck again and retrieved the handgun to protect herself and frighten Mr. Engrum.
The woman told police she fired the gun to scare Mr. Engrum and had no intention of shooting him.
It was only after police arrived and interviewed the woman in her home that she learned Mr. Engrum was dead, police said.
Officer Tapp-Harper said that there were no calls in the past 90 days of police responding to complaints at the Engrum house.