The life of Ronald Boone, a 21-year-old Black man from Baltimore, came to a violent end on a Saturday afternoon in the winter of 2022. Just before 5 p.m. on February 5, police officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 3300 block of Kentucky Avenue in the city’s Belair-Edison neighborhood. They arrived to find Boone suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Paramedics rushed him to Johns Hopkins Hospital, but despite the efforts of medical staff, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.
Baltimore Police Department homicide detectives immediately began an investigation into the killing. As they worked to identify those responsible for the daytime shooting, the department offered an $8,000 reward for any information that would lead to an arrest and charges in the case. The investigation pointed toward a Toyota Yaris seen on surveillance footage in the area, from which a gunman was observed firing a shot.
Within weeks, detectives made their first arrest. On February 23, 2022, police took a 16-year-old male into custody. A second suspect, a 14-year-old male, was arrested shortly after on March 3. Both teenagers were charged as adults with first-degree murder in connection with Ronald Boone's death.
The younger suspect was identified as Costello Simms. According to court documents, he was identified by a witness who recognized him in a photo array as the driver of the vehicle involved in the shooting. In addition to first-degree murder, Simms faced charges of firearm use in a felony violent crime and several other handgun offenses.
After his arrest, Simms's case proceeded through the court system. Following plea negotiations, a trial was scheduled for the summer of 2024. On July 26, 2024, Costello Simms accepted a plea deal that resolved the murder charges against him. This was the last public development in the case as of July 2024.
