Desmond Gardner, a 27-year-old male, was on his lunch break from his job at the Baltimore City Department of Public Works on January 26, 2023, when he decided to visit his young daughter. As he walked in the 3400 block of Spelman Road in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, just steps from his daughter's front door, he was ambushed by three masked individuals. In the broad daylight attack, over 20 shots were fired, and Gardner, who was unarmed, was shot in the back.
He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The initial investigation by the Baltimore Police Department had little evidence to go on, apart from a video showing the three masked assailants. A break in the case came six days later when Baltimore County Police were investigating a potentially stolen vehicle. Inside that vehicle was 17-year-old Parris Harris, who fled after locking the glove compartment. Police apprehended him and found a handgun inside the glove box. Ballistics testing matched the shell casings from the murder scene to the gun found in Harris's possession. Further investigation of Harris's cell phone data linked him to the crime scene shortly before the murder, and photographs showed him with the murder weapon and wearing distinctive clothing that matched one of the shooters in the video.
The investigation, a collaboration between the Baltimore Police Department and the FBI, also determined that one of the suspects had been shot in the leg by a co-conspirator during the ambush. After checking area hospitals without success, investigators used location data from Parris Harris's phone, which showed that after the murder, he had traveled to the vicinity of George Washington Hospital in Washington D.C. Hospital records confirmed that Andrew Curry, then 21, had been admitted with two gunshot wounds to his lower right leg shortly after Gardner's murder.
Parris Harris, who was 17 at the time of the murder but charged as an adult, was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges on July 12, 2024. He was later sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years. On November 18, 2025, after a five-day trial, a jury found Andrew Curry, 24, guilty of first-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for March 30, 2026, and he faces a maximum of life without the possibility of parole. The third suspect in the ambush has not been publicly identified.
