Charging documents show how Baltimore detectives used video footage to identify teen suspect

BALTIMORE -- Investigators used camera footage to track down a 17-year-old boy who has been charged in connection with a mass shooting that left two people dead and 28 injured in the South Baltimore community of Brooklyn Homes, according to charging documents obtained by WJZ.

Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, was pronounced dead on the scene. Kylis Fagbemi, 20, died at a local hospital following the shooting.

Video footage in the area of 800 Gretna Court, which was at the epicenter of the shooting, showed a large crowd in the area ahead of the mass shooting, according to charging documents.

Additionally, investigators found other video footage of the festive gathering posted on social media accounts—one of them depicting a Black male pulling a rifle out of a backpack and displaying it to others around him, according to a source familiar with the case.

The weapon was capable of firing.223 caliber bullets and detectives found several such rounds at the sprawling crime scene, per the documents.

They found blood in the area of those rounds, too, according to the charging documents.

For investigators, this was enough to turn their attention to the 17-year-old boy—who had also been shot during the barrage of gunfire, per the charging documents.

Those investigators found him at a local hospital. They interviewed him alongside his mother, according to the charging documents.

They believed the 17-year-old boy to be the person in the viral video who displayed a rifle amid a crowd of people at Brooklyn Homes, per the charging documents.

Law enforcement officers took the teen into custody last week. He is facing gun-related charges. Prosecutors have not alleged that he shot anyone. 

"He's certainly not violent. On his record, he has no prior criminal anything. He hasn't even gotten a jaywalking ticket," the teen's defense attorney Michael Clinkscale said. "The police clearly do not have the weapon as you heard what the judge said in court. It's going to be a very significant challenge to even determine that this young man even had possession of a gun."   

Police have said that at least two suspects opened fire around midnight Sunday at Brooklyn Day, a long-held annual block party in the Brooklyn Homes neighborhood.

Clinkscale said his client was in possession of an Orbeez gun while at Brooklyn Homes.

"They are holding him for gun charges when we allege what this young man has was an Orbeez gun," he said. "An Orbeez gun is a toy."

Orbeez are water bead pellets. There had been recent cases of people shooting them at strangers as part of a TikTok challenge, leading to warnings from local police.

Clinkscale said his client wants justice just like everyone else.

"Unlike most of us who are just observers, he was shot," Clinkscale said. "He was at the incident just like everyone else."

Three gunshot victims remain hospitalized and are in fair condition, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

Investigators are offering a reward of $28,000 for information leading to an arrest in connection to the mass shooting. 

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact homicide detectives at 410-396-2100. 

Anonymous tipsters can call the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line, at 1-866-7LOCKUP. 

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• Crime