Overview
- Police say the fight began behind a Whole Foods in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and that the suspect chased and pushed 37-year-old James Britt into the water during a confrontation on Sunday, after which first responders pulled Britt from the harbor and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.
- Investigators recovered surveillance video and witness statements that they say show the suspect catching up to Britt at the water’s edge and pushing him in, a detail that differs from the suspect’s claim that the victim jumped.
- Charging documents report the suspect, identified as 36-year-old James Fitzsimmons of Parkville, told detectives he fought with Britt and later said “Oh well” after being told Britt could not swim.
- Fitzsimmons was arrested and charged with second-degree murder plus manslaughter and assault counts, and a judge ordered him held without bail pending a forthcoming bail hearing and further court appearances.
- In court the defense portrayed Fitzsimmons as a good Samaritan who intervened during a dispute while prosecutors cited prior convictions and an active warrant, and the case remains under investigation as pretrial proceedings continue.