Facial recognition used to capture accused East Baltimore killer with violent past

Police used facial recognition technology to arrest a repeat, violent offender accused of killing a father of three and a convenience store worker during an armed robbery in East Baltimore on February 13.

The suspect, 52-year-old Brian Burrows, appeared before a judge at Baltimore's Wabash District Courthouse where he was denied bail. 

"Extreme danger"

Burrows appeared remotely Monday afternoon before Judge William Dunn.

He said nothing, and assistant public defender Zoe Sheppard did not move for home detention. 

"Given the severity of the charges, he is an extreme danger to the community and a flight risk," Judge Dunn said. 

A September warrant for Burrows for violating his parole had yet to be served, according to Sheppard.

She asked that authorities serve it while her client remains detained. 

Caught on camera 

The brazen killing was captured on surveillance video from the Broadway Mart at Broadway and Eager and obtained by WJZ.

Police said Burrows fired a single gunshot that killed Khaled Alshariki as Alshariki worked behind the counter at the convenience store near the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus.

As WJZ Investigates exclusively reported last week, an open warrant for Burrows for violating his parole was issued on September 10, 2025, more than five months prior to the killing. 

He had only been released from prison a year earlier, in January 2025, after serving seven years of a 20-year sentence for an armed robbery.

A judge suspended most of the prison time in that 2018 case. 

A letter from parole and probation detailed Burrows' struggles since being released. He was in and out of drug treatment centers and overdosed before disappearing entirely last August. 

Tracking the accused killer 

Police used the Broadway Mart's surveillance video and other cameras in the area to track Burrows down.

According to charging documents WJZ obtained, police were able to obtain a clear image of Burrows' face and submitted it to a facial recognition database.

The charging documents also revealed police arrived at the Broadway Mart roughly 20 minutes after the shooting, while first responders from the fire department were already on the scene treating the victim. 

But by that time, police said Burrows had already committed another armed robbery at another corner store a few blocks from the scene of the fatal shooting.

That victim survived. 

Burrows is facing murder and gun charges and a possible life prison sentence if convicted.