Police arrest man for July killing in Dundalk

First published Friday, July 26, 2024 in the Dundalk Eagle.

When police arrived at Colgate Elementary School on July 1, they found a 20-year-old dying from gunshot wounds.

Baltimore County Police say Jamel Nation was shooting dice with others at the school. Around 8 p.m., two men, one with partially braided hair and a goatee wearing a white shirt and jeans, got out of the back of a red car, they said.

The man wearing jeans grabbed Nation, fought with him and shot him, police said in court documents.

Uber gave the police records showing that a rider named Deandre Stokes had booked a trip from a Baltimore address to the elementary school that night. Police said the account’s phone number and address matched 27-year-old Deandre Jamal Stokes.

The photo on his driver’s license, police said, matched the suspect in the surveillance video as well.

Baltimore County Police arrested Stokes in a Parkville townhouse development, court documents show. Six days after his 27th birthday, he appeared in front of Judge Marsha Russell for a bail hearing.

Russell denied him bail because he pleaded guilty to assaulting a person and carrying a gun in 2019. Maryland law prohibits judges from releasing defendants on probation if they have been convicted of a violent crime or illegally carrying a gun.

He is charged with first-degree murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison, using a gun to commit a felony or violent crime, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years, and carrying a loaded handgun, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and/or a $2,500 fine.

Attorneys representing Stokes have asked the District Court for Baltimore County in Towson to dismiss some charges because police searched him illegally. When a reporter called the public defender’s office, they were told to email the office. The office did not respond to the email Friday afternoon.

Stokes has a court date set for Aug. 9 at 9 a.m. at the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore County in Towson.