:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/5VCHEOINNFCCTPZBNKGU57G5BQ.jpg)
A Baltimore man was arrested and charged in a Friday double shooting that killed a man at the Perkins Homes complex, police said Tuesday.
Gary Watkins, 54, was charged with first-degree murder in the Friday shooting, which killed Devante Smith, 25, and injured a 23-year-old woman.
No attorney was listed for Watkins in online court records.
Witnesses at the scene told police that Watkins got into an argument over a missing bag of drugs that was inside his vehicle and accused the woman’s boyfriend of taking them, according to charging documents.
Watkins left the area and returned hours later with three men wearing face masks, but Watkins did not have a face mask on. Watkins—along with the three other men—shot and killed Smith and injured the woman, according to charging documents.
Officers arrived atthe 300 block of Mason Court around 5:15 p.m., and found Smith and the woman suffering from gunshot wounds to the body, police said.
Both Smith and the woman were taken to the hospital.
The woman’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, police said.
A young boy, who spoke with Ceasefire gun violence activist Erricka Bridgeford during Ceasefire movement’s anti-violence weekend, said Smith “jumped in front of my sister," who was a 14-year-old girl in the area as shots were fired.
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/AAK4BVY54RDQFH4YSTLYCY77TM.JPG)
Smith’s killing occurred on a day where two other people were shot and killed, the start of a violent weekend in Baltimore.
Breaking News Alerts
Friends of Smith, who declined to give their names, were building a memorial and lighting candles outside the Perkins Homes complex Tuesday. As people stopped and looked at the memorial site, many of Smith’s friends remembered him as someone who was popular among his peers.
“There are so many good things to say about him, it is hard to put it to words,” one friend said of Smith Tuesday evening.
A green fence was decorated with balloons, teddy bears and spray paint that read “Man-Man Tha Great," a nick-name given to Smith by his friends over the years. One teddy bear was dressed in a shirt printed with several images of Smith. Twenty-five candles, one for each year of Smith’s life, were lit and placed in a row.