In the late hours of a Wednesday night in May 2013, the life of 20-year-old Joseph Franklin Haskins was tragically cut short in a northwest Baltimore neighborhood. A male, and cousin of the city's then-mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Haskins was at a gathering in a home on Ethland Avenue when violence erupted. Around 11:30 p.m. on May 8th, as many as three intruders forced their way into the residence, announcing a robbery.
During the chaotic home invasion, Haskins was shot. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries in the early morning hours of May 9, 2013. Homicide investigators noted that there had been gambling, drinking, and drug use occurring at the home at the time of the incident, leaving them to determine if Haskins himself was the intended target of the assailants.
The high-profile nature of the case, given Haskins' relationship to the mayor, brought immediate attention to the senseless gun violence plaguing the city. Mayor Rawlings-Blake issued a statement expressing her family's profound grief over the tragedy. In the days that followed, Baltimore police canvassed the Forest Park neighborhood, going door-to-door in search of any witnesses or information that could lead to the perpetrators.
Despite the public appeals for information and a reward offered by Metro Crime Stoppers for tips leading to an arrest and conviction, the investigation into Joseph Haskins' murder grew cold. Online sources and news reports in the years following the deadly home invasion do not contain information about any arrests being made in the case. The identities of the one to three suspects who stormed the Baltimore home and took a young man's life remain unknown to the public, and the case appears to be unsolved.
