A 15-year-old boy was arrested on Thursday in connection to the fatal shooting of a driver last week, according to the Baltimore Police Department (BPD).
Timothy Reynolds, 47, was murdered at around 4:40 p.m. on July 7 at Light Street and East Conway Street after encountering a group of squeegee workers, one of which was allegedly the teenage boy.
The teen was arrested at approximately 6:35 a.m. on Thursday in Essex, Baltimore County. Investigators brought the suspect and his father to the Central Booking Intake Facility to be interviewed by detectives.
He was later charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
Investigators were able to identify the juvenile in connection to the shooting through dash cam video footage. The footage has not been made public yet.
The Baltimore Banner, which first reported the dashcam video, detailed the final moments of Reynold’s life – who allegedly was wielding a baseball bat:
The 45-second video clip, which was also described in a police report, does not show the [47]-year-old Hampden man’s initial approach of the workers. It picks up with Reynolds walking away from the intersection. As he walks away, he points the bat at three squeegee workers, who are following him from about 20 feet away.
Reynolds walks in front of a car and out of view when the squeegee workers “seemingly surround him,” according to description of the video detailed in a police report. It’s unclear what happens in front of the car but the workers can be seen moving in towards him.
Reynolds can be seen swinging the bat while running towards them. One squeegee worker appears to strike Reynolds in the head while Reynolds has the bat raised toward another worker. Three seconds later, that person pulled out a gun and started firing at Reynolds.
Five shots could be heard in the video, the Banner noted.
Reynolds was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.
“We all need to continue to work together to address the root causes of violence and to provide resources and alternatives to these young people,” said BPD Commissioner Michael Harrison. “I hope that today’s arrest brings some closure and peace to the family, friends and loved ones of Timothy Reynolds.”
“As I’ve said continuously – any person that endangers the safety and well-being of anyone on the streets of Baltimore, they will be held accountable. Now we must all support our community in healing especially the impacted families,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D). “As we allow this case to be handled by the appropriate parties, we must continue to do all we can to prevent people – especially young people – from having to engage in activities that put the lives of others or their own lives at risk.”
Squeegee workers – who hang out at intersections and street corners offering to wash the windshields of vehicles in exchange for money – are a common sight in Baltimore.
There were 59 calls for “squeegee disturbances” over the past 18 months at Light Street and East Conway Street, where the alleged homicide occurred, the Baltimore Sun reported. In June, there were 13 squeegee calls at the intersection, a surge from previous months.
It is the most common type of call at that intersection, besides auto accidents, the Sun noted.
The squeegee worker issue has recently become a “high-profile issue” in the upcoming Baltimore City state’s attorney race, WBAL noted.
There were 337 murders documented in Baltimore in 2021, making it the seventh consecutive year the city had over 300 homicides. “Analysts have predicted that 2022 could prove to be the deadliest in Baltimore’s history,” Breitbart News reported in June.
The city’s Democrat mayor recently blamed the media for the surge in homicides, despite Scott’s efforts to defund the police budget by $22 million when he was a city councilman. “As mayor, he backtracked by proposing a $27 million increase the following year,” Breitbart News noted.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.