"Baltimore police identified the man killed in a double shooting in the city's Mid-Town neighborhood as Alex Ulrich, 41, of Baltimore (left). A second man wounded in the shooting was identified by police as Lawrence Peterson, 56 (right). (Photos courtesy of Baltimore Police Department/August 12, 2012)" Posted by Nicholas Stix
By Kevin Rector
August 13, 2012, 11:18 a.m. EDT
The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore police on Sunday released photographs of the two victims in a fatal double shooting in the city's Mid-Town neighborhood on Friday, hoping the images might help an investigation that had so far produced few leads.
Joseph Alexander Ulrich, 40, of Baltimore, who went by Alex, was killed in the shooting, and Lawrence Peterson, 56, owner of the Empire House inn and a well-known leader in the neighborhood, was critically injured.
In recent years, police have rarely released the identity — much less the image — of non-fatal shooting victims.
Detective Donny Moses, a police spokesman, said police released the information and images in hopes that it might lead to progress in the investigation.
The shooting occurred outside the inn and residence in the first block of E. Chase Street about 4 a.m., when an unknown man, who was accompanied by a woman, started shooting, police said.
Moses said police do not have any suspects, nor do they know of a motive in the crime. But Ulrich's brother, James, told the Hagerstown Herald Mail that police told the family that he was killed in a robbery.
James Ulrich told the newspaper that police told him that Alex Ulrich and some friends were talking on the steps when four people walked past. He said two of the four returned later and tried to rob one of Alex's friends when the shots were fired.
Ulrich, who was from Smithsburg but was living in the 900 block of North Calvert Street, was pronounced dead about 11 a.m. at an area hospital, police said. On Sunday, Peterson remained in critical condition, Moses said.
The shooting shocked city leaders and others in the neighborhood, which is just north of downtown and rarely has gun violence.
Peterson moved to the 9,000-square-foot, four-story brownstone in 1996 from Washington and restored the home. City Councilman William H. Cole IV, whose district includes nearby Mount Vernon, described Peterson as a "dedicated and passionate member of the Mount Vernon community."
Ulrich moved to Baltimore to launch his career as a photographer, and had recently shown his photos in a Pennsylvania art gallery for the first time, friends said.
A cash reward is also being offered for information about the crime.
Those with information are asked to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-756-2587.
krector@baltsun.com
twitter.com/rectorsun
Was the neighborhood being gentrified?
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