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4w ago

Baltimore Prosecutors Decline Charges in Fells Point Shooting Citing Self-Defense

Prosecutors said the evidence satisfied Maryland's defense-of-habitation standard based on the shooter's reasonable perception of imminent harm.

Passers by frame a front door, now boarded up in the hours following a report of a fatal shooting at the 2200 block of Fleet Street at an address once associated with master jeweler Stephen Page of the Canton neighborhood. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
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Overview

  • State's Attorney Ivan Bates announced on Nov. 3 that no charges will be filed in the Oct. 16 shooting on the 2200 block of Fleet Street in Fells Point.
  • The 39-year-old man who was shot, identified as Richard Rolfe, was found by police with gunshot wounds around 2 a.m. and later died at a hospital.
  • Dispatch audio shows the shooter called 911 reporting he had fired at a man breaking into a shop before officers arrived.
  • The State's Attorney's Homicide Unit reviewed the case and applied Maryland's five-factor defense-of-habitation test in reaching its decision.
  • Investigators said the shooter reasonably believed Rolfe was armed and that deadly force was necessary, though Rolfe was later found unarmed, and the office described early police claims the shooting was justified as premature after also speaking with the family.