Jose Castron-Merales, a 38-year-old Hispanic man, was killed late Saturday night, April 6, 2024, in Baltimore’s Southeastern District, in the 3700 block of East Lombard Street. Police were dispatched at about 11:34 p.m. after reports of gunfire, and when officers reached the block they found two adult men suffering from gunshot wounds, the scene still fresh with the chaos of a shooting that had just happened.
Medics pronounced Castron-Merales dead at the location.
The second man was still conscious, wounded but alive, and was taken to a hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening. Detectives opened a homicide investigation from the outset, treating the shooting as a targeted act of violence with at least one surviving witness-victim who could help fill in the missing moments.
In the immediate aftermath, the public picture remained thin: early police and media reports did not identify any suspect or suspects, did not announce any arrests, and did not describe a weapon recovery or a clear motive. Instead, investigators leaned on the familiar rhythm of an active case—phone lines to homicide detectives, a call for witnesses, and the hope that someone nearby heard, saw, or recorded something that could turn a late-night burst of gunfire into a solvable timeline.
A few days later, police publicly named Castron-Merales as the victim, tying him formally to that address on East Lombard Street and anchoring the case in the city’s ongoing ledger of shootings and homicides. But in the sources available, that identification did not come with a companion announcement of charges, court proceedings, or a confirmed suspect narrative—only the fact of the double shooting, one life ended on scene, and another left injured, carrying the rest of the night forward.
