A man found in a shopping cart severely beaten June 22, and who died the next day at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was a homicide victim, police said yesterday.

Officers found James Pittman, 30, of the 1300 block of Crofton Road in the cart in the 1500 block of N. Bond St., bleeding from severe wounds to the head and left leg. Police termed his death suspicious, pending an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office.

An autopsy report received by police Monday said Pittman died of blunt force injuries.

Pub Date: 6/30/99