BALTIMORE — The University of Maryland Medical Center employee shot Monday morning in Downtown Baltimore was the victim of a scornful former romantic partner looking to kill, according to charging documents acquired Tuesday.
“I want him dead,” the shooting suspect confessed to police in an interview, according to the charging documents. “….I shot him in the eye, and if he doesn’t die I will not stop!”
Police responded to the 600 block of W. Redwood Street at about 7:15 a.m. for a reported shooting Monday. There they found the 24-year-old male victim suffering from gunshot wounds to his face and buttocks. EMTs immediately began working to save the man’s life. As of Tuesday morning, he was considered to be in critical but stable condition.
As police and technicians were processing the crime scene, nearby officers said they were in the midst of a foot pursuit of a potential suspect matching the description of the shooter. The officers were able to catch the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Jamar Haughton, of the 900 block of Lemmon Street in the city’s Hollins Market neighborhood. He was apprehended wearing black pants, a green hoodie, and a dark-colored hooded jacket. Police also seized a 9mm Beretta handgun, matching the 9 mm shell casings found at the shooting scene. The gun’s serial number was later identified as matching that of a firearm stolen in Anne Arundel County.
Immediately after the shooting, police tried to assuage neighborhood fears, saying the incident was targeted and did not pose a threat to the larger community. As the suspect began to divulge his side of the story, those police assertions proved true.
Haughton was taken to police headquarters where he was interviewed by detectives leading the investigation. Haughton confessed to shooting his victim, extolling a desire to end the life of the man he had targeted.
“I wanted to kill him,” Haughton said, according to the charging documents.
Further investigation revealed that Haughton had been in an intimate relationship with his victim, according to charging documents. The two had recently separated, with the victim leaving the couple to begin a relationship with a woman. Haughton demanded closure, of which his victim would not provide, according to the documents.
Another recent court case suggests Haughton had been evicted from his mother's Randallstown home and returned there a week later in October when he destroyed one of her laptops and police arrested him for malicious destruction.
Through a statement issued Tuesday, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine confirmed Haughton was employed in a facilities position. The school said he has since been fired. The school said they were unable to comment further on the matter and referred all questions to the Baltimore Police and the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office.
Haughton was transported and processed at Central Booking Intake Facility. He faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, and a handful of related charges.
