On the morning of Mother’s Day, May 11, 2025, the life of Albert Manning, a 37-year-old Black man, was ended by gunfire in South Baltimore’s Brooklyn neighborhood. At approximately 6:45 a.m., a bystander discovered Manning on the ground in the 3500 block of 2nd Street and called 911. When Baltimore Police Department officers arrived, they found Manning suffering from gunshot wounds to his upper body. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
A later examination by the state medical examiner revealed he had been shot three times, with one bullet striking his aorta.
Investigators learned that just before the shooting, Manning had been in a verbal altercation for several minutes with his killer near the intersection of 2nd Street and East Patapsco Avenue. According to charging documents, the argument concluded when Manning walked up to the suspect, who then turned around and shot him. Homicide detectives immediately began reviewing security camera footage from the area, which provided their first clues. The footage showed a shooter wearing a black ski mask, black clothing, goggles, and red, white, and black shoes, who arrived at and fled the scene on a blue two-wheeled vehicle.
Using an extensive network of video footage, detectives were able to track the suspect’s movements. They saw him in the area between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., before he went home for about 10 minutes and then returned to the crime scene. Investigators followed the suspect’s path all the way to the Cherryland Apartments, which led them to identify Ronald Hall, Jr., then 48, as a person of interest.
Seventeen days after the shooting, on May 28, 2025, police arrested Hall and executed a search warrant at his apartment. Inside, they found a pair of red-and-black Nike sneakers, a motorcycle jacket, goggles, and numerous ski masks that all matched the clothing worn by the shooter in the surveillance videos. Hall was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, assault, and multiple handgun violations.
Hall’s trial began in June 2026 before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy. Prosecutors argued that Hall had specifically targeted Manning, pointing to footage of him waiting in the area and suggesting his brief trip home was to retrieve his gun, which showed premeditation. The defense countered that investigators had jumped to conclusions. After hearing the evidence, a jury found Ronald Hall guilty of second-degree murder and multiple firearm violations. On June 16, 2026, Judge Handy sentenced Hall to a total of 75 years in prison, comprising 40 years for the murder of Albert Manning and a consecutive 35 years on the gun charges.
