Police Search For Clues & Suspects After Community Activist's Murder

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City is getting closer and closer to reaching the kinds of homicide rates it hasn't seen in two decades.

Derek Valcourt has details on the latest murder that has city officials so upset.

Police praised the victim, calling him a good citizen and a good father, someone who was trying to stop crime in his community.

Homicide detectives canvassed the 35-hundred block of Park Heights Avenue, the scene of one of the city's latest murders.

Monday night, 24-year-old father of three Kendal Fenwick left his young children inside the house and stepped outside to get something out of his car. That's when he was shot multiple times.

"What it appears is that he actually ran in a different direction as he was being fired upon. He knew that there were children in the house and he wanted to protect his children is what we believe," said TJ Smith, Baltimore Police.

The murder was a shock to neighbors who say Fenwick was a good man raising his family the right way. He even recently built a fence to help keep crime away from his property.

"I was at work when I got the phone call and I had to go in the bathroom." said neighbor Tamyra Garris. "I couldn't believe someone would hurt him like this."

His death marks the 295th murder in Baltimore so far this year. That's up dramatically---105 more than this same time last year---putting the city on pace to well exceed 300 murders for the year. That hasn't been done since the 1990s.

"There's something different in the air," said Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Davis is frustrated by Fenwick's death and calls the killer a "cowardly little punk."

"This victim's not in the game. He's not involved in criminal activity. He's an innocent Baltimore person working for his community. This city needs more people like him and we certainly need to be outraged when someone like him is killed in this manner," Davis said.

Police haven't said anything about a possible motive for the murder.

Anyone with information is urged to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP.