Baltimore Shooting Suspect Charged With Murder

BALTIMORE, MD — The Baltimore man accused of shooting people randomly while driving Friday was charged with murder and other offenses, police said. In sum, he faces more than 30 charges connected to shootings on three days this month.

Mausean Carter, 30, of the 3000 block of Oakford Avenue, has been charged with first and second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, attempted first and second-degree murder as well as assault and weapons charges.

The charges stem from shootings on Wabash Avenue, Poplar Grove Street, Edmondson Avenue and Reisterstown Road, according to Baltimore Police Chief of Media Relations T.J. Smith.

Some of the shootings occurred in "his backyard," according to Smith, who said the investigation was still active; there may be more charges coming.

Carter was taken into custody after he led authorities on a 20-minute pursuit around west Baltimore on Friday. Police said Carter was suspected in a Dec. 14 homicide on Poplar Grove Street and a Dec. 8 nonfatal shooting on Edmondson Avenue.

An officer on patrol in the western district on Friday noticed a vehicle that he recognized from a "be on the lookout" flyer showing a car wanted in connection with those shootings and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.

Although Carter handed over his registration and appeared to comply at first, body camera footage shows that after the officer consulted with citywide police dispatch about the vehicle and noted it smelled of marijuana, he asked the driver to get out, and Carter took off.

A 20 to 30-minute pursuit ensued, in which Carter fired at officers and civilians Friday. He is accused of firing at multiple people randomly while driving before ultimately surrendering midday, sending two people to the hospital with gunshot wounds. An officer sustained a leg injury although it was not clear how that happened, according to Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Carter's girlfriend ran out to his vehicle on Reisterstown Road at Gwynns Falls Parkway, where she pulled him out into the road and he was subsequently arrested, police said.

"You'll see her run to the car, [they] grab each other and fall from the car," Smith said.

One murder charge against Carter stems from a shooting that left Martrell Harris, 21, deceased. He was shot in the head in the 4500 block of Reisterstown Road on Dec. 14 and was pronounced deceased shortly after, police said. Police got a description of the four-door sedan following that drive-by shooting.

One person was killed in the 900 block of Poplar Grove Street on Dec. 14 in a triple shooting, according to authorities. Two people were outside and one person inside were shot at a corner store. A person who worked at the store was pronounced deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. Two surviving shooting victims, who were 16 and 24 years old, had non-life-threatening injuries, Smith said.

The following day, an officer in the 2200 block of Reisterstown Road conducted the traffic stop, pulling over a vehicle he recognized from a be-on-the-lookout flyer, and one which he noticed had illegal tint.

After the officer asked Carter to step out of the vehicle, Carter took off and led police on a 20 to 30-minute chase. During the chase, a 50-year-old was shot; a 48-year-old in a business was shot in the leg in the 3100 block of West North Avenue; and a 57-year-old was shot in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the 5400 block of Wabash Avenue, according to Smith. The 57-year-old was stabilized and is expected to survive what were originally described as life-threatening injuries.

Court records show 19 charges against Carter in the Dec. 8 shootings, including three counts of attempted first and second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree assault. Police said that at 3:39 p.m. that day, authorities responded to a hospital for a 31-year-old man who was shot in the hip and said he had been shot in the 2400 block of Edmondson Avenue.

It was a "drive-by style shooting," Smith said, similar to the others in which Carter was accused.

Police said Carter was denied bail and was being held at central booking.

Related:

• Baltimore Active Shooter Suspect In Custody
• Active Shooter Suspect Charged With Murder In Baltimore

Photo of Mausean Carter courtesy of Baltimore Police.