Tiffany Lowery, 30, a Black/African American female from Baltimore, was shot on the evening of June 8, 2016, in the Pigtown area of South Baltimore near the 1300 block of James Street, just off South Carey Street. Police responding around 7:00 p.m. found her suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and rushed her to a hospital, but she did not survive her injuries.
In the last moments pieced together at trial, she had met up with Sarah Diaz at a food market at the corner of South Carey and James Streets so Diaz could get a “tester” pill of heroin. The exchange happened at the entranceway of an alley off James Street. As they headed back toward the corner store, a man called out her name. Diaz saw a group of four men approaching; then, as Diaz turned away and walked off with her back to what was unfolding, gunshots cracked through the block. Diaz did not see the actual trigger pull, but surveillance cameras from the market captured the start of the shooting and helped investigators reconstruct the approach.
Medical authorities later determined she died from seven gunshot wounds, and the death was ruled a homicide. Public records for her memorial services list her date of death as June 8, 2016, though at least one online gun-violence memorial entry has circulated a conflicting date; the contemporaneous reporting and court record surrounding the case consistently place the shooting on June 8, 2016, in South Baltimore.
Detectives leaned heavily on what the cameras saw and what the street left behind. The surveillance video showed the shooter firing in her direction, and investigators say the shooter discarded a beverage can during the recorded movements around the scene; testing tied fingerprints on that discarded can back to Dashonn Gipson. Diaz, who knew him as “Shonn,” also identified him from still images taken from the surveillance footage as part of the group that approached just before the shots. With the video, fingerprint evidence, and witness statements, a warrant was obtained and Gipson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
A Baltimore City jury ultimately convicted Gipson of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, and possession of a handgun by a prohibited person. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, along with an additional 20 years for the handgun charge and 5 more years for the firearm-possession offense. He appealed, but the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland upheld the convictions.
