Several city shootings leave two people dead

Two people who were among several shot in Baltimore over the weekend died of their wounds, city police said yesterday.

As of yesterday, 25 people have been killed in the city this year, compared with 43 during the same period last year, police said.

In the latest incident, police said a man and woman were found shot, one fatally, in a West Baltimore rowhouse early yesterday. Police who responded to a call about a shooting about 12:15 a.m. in the 700 block of W. North Ave. found the woman in one room suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and is expected to survive, police said. The man, Eric Jones, 23, a resident of the house, was found in the living room bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head; he was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.

Sunday night, three people were shot, one of them fatally, in separate incidents within a half-hour.

Police said a 70-year-old man was shot in the shoulder by an intruder in his house in the 3500 block of W. Forest Park Ave. about 9 p.m. Police said the man was in bed, heard a noise and was shot when he went to the kitchen to investigate. He was taken to Shock Trauma; his injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

About 8:40 p.m., police said, a man, 23, was found lying at North Milton Avenue and East Chase Street in East Baltimore, suffering from five bullet wounds. Police said he was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m.

His name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said.

About 8:30 p.m., officers reported stopping a man in West Baltimore who had been shot in the leg. The man told police that he and three friends had just left a corner grocery in the 900 block of N. Gilmor St. when a gunman opened fire on the group. He was the only person hit and was taken to Shock Trauma for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.

Police said yesterday that no arrests have been made.

Standoff ends; hostages OK

An armed man who police said was holed up yesterday afternoon in his South Baltimore rowhouse and refused to let a teenager and three other adults leave has surrendered to officers, a Police Department spokesman said.

The standoff in the 3000 block of Seabury Road in Cherry Hill ended about 2:45 p.m., said Sterling Clifford, the spokesman. Hostage negotiators were on the scene to resolve the situation, police said. It was not clear how the incident began, but police said the man's mother got on the phone and encouraged him to surrender.

No one was injured, police said.

Brent Jones

Man charged in Web sex sting

A 33-year-old Baltimore man has been charged in an Internet sex sting in which city police allege he met an officer posing as a 13-year-old girl in an online chat room and arranged to meet her for sex the next day, according to police charging documents.

Dennis Lee Green Jr. of the 3300 block of Dulany St. in Southwest Baltimore is being held without bail on multiple charges, including sexual solicitation of a minor and attempted second-degree rape, according to police.

Green is accused of arranging the Thursday meeting at the Dunkin Donuts in the 7000 block of Reisterstown Road. According to court documents, Baltimore investigators arrested the suspect after he admitted being "Dennis" in the Yahoo "romance" chat room.

Melissa Harris