In the early hours of a Thursday morning in October 2018, 73-year-old Lawrence Price was driving his car in northwest Baltimore, giving a family friend a ride home. As he stopped at a red light in the 4400 block of Liberty Heights Avenue, another vehicle pulled up alongside him. An argument erupted between the drivers, a seemingly random and tragically fatal encounter.
The driver of the other car, later identified as 17-year-old Mikayal Hendricks, allegedly brandished a gun and fired
several shots into Mr. Price's vehicle before speeding away. A passenger in Mr. Price's car managed to drive him to a local hospital, but he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound shortly after arriving at 12:30 a.m. on October 4th. The incident added to a surge of violence that had plagued the city, with September of that year being the deadliest month in over a year.
Homicide detectives investigated the shooting and identified Hendricks as the prime suspect. He was arrested and faced a charge of first-degree murder, among other offenses. It was later revealed that at the time of the shooting, Hendricks was supposed to be under electronic home monitoring in connection with a string of armed carjackings. His mother stated that she had repeatedly contacted Juvenile Services about him not complying with the monitoring, but they never followed up. Following his arrest, Hendricks reportedly told police that he was the driver but not the one who pulled the trigger. The death of Lawrence Price left his widow, Cheryl Price, and their family devastated, ending a 38-year marriage just days after they had celebrated their anniversary.
