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7-Year-Old Baltimore Girl Shot While Riding In A Car. This Is Why The Driver Was Arrested
The 7-year-old neice of a Baltimore City school aide was shot while riding in the woman's car, and now Darnell Holmes is charged with illegal possession of a loaded gun, heroin and intent to distribute.
A Baltimore school aide was ordered held without bail on Monday after a 7-year-old girl was shot while riding in the backseat of the woman's car, and police found a loaded gun, heroin and a scale in her glovebox.
Darnell Holmes, 33, was driving in Southwest Baltimore last Thursday when Taylor Hayes was shot in the back by an unknown gunman who fired at the rear of Holmes’s car, sending a bullet through the car’s trunk and into Hayes, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Police investigating the shooting searched Holmes’s Honda Accord and discovered the contraband, the Sun reports. Investigators also recovered spent ammunition casings from two guns at the scene of the shooting, and some of the spent rounds matched the gun found in Holmes’ glove box, the Sun reports.
Whether Holmes fired that gun herself, or whether it was perhaps fired by another, as-yet-unidentified person is unknown at this time, Baltimore Police Chief Gary Tuggle said at a Sunday news conference.
“We’re still trying to piece that together,” Tuggle said. “Ms. Holmes is not being cooperative. We don’t know.”
Holmes is charged with six gun- and drug-related crimes, including possession of illegal drugs, illegal possession of a firearm and intent to distribute narcotics, according to the Sun. She appeared via video link from jail, and was ordered detained for a preliminary hearing scheduled for August 2.
At Sunday’s news conference, police said the person who fired the shot that hit the child was driving a white Mercedes Benz four-door sedan, before asking that person to surrender, as well as for the public’s help identifying him or her.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to be dogmatic in our approach to this investigation,” Tuggle added.
Holmes works as an aide for Baltimore City schools and volunteers with the Aberdeen Fire Station, the Sun reports. Her attorney, Staci Pipkin, told the Sun that Holmes doesn’t know who shot at her car and that Taylor is the daughter of Holmes’ cousin.
“They’re trying to press her to say something she doesn’t know,” Pipkin said. “She doesn’t know because she was driving.”
The 7-year-old remains in the hospital in critical condition, “clinging to life,” Tuggle said on Sunday.
[Photo: Baltimore Police Department]
