Roomer killed after dispute at Better Waverly house

Jashawn Ivory had worked about a decade caring for the elderly in Florida but moved to Baltimore about five years ago to be closer to his mother, she said.

Now, she wishes he never had.

Ivory, 35, was shot in the bedroom he rented at a boarding house in the 1100 block of Homestead St. in Better Waverly in the early morning of March 4. “I wish he stayed,” Joanne Ivory said. “I have another son. I hope he never comes up here. It’s really terrible up here.”

She said her son grew up in Boston, but moved to Florida about 15 years ago, working different jobs, including as a home caregiver for the elderly and a manager at a Palm Beach McDonald’s. After moving to Baltimore five Jashawn Ivory years ago, he struggled to find steady work.

Ivory said she last saw her son just hours before his death. They had met for drinks at Kitty's Lounge on Greenmount Avenue.

Later that night, at a party held by roommates at the boarding house, he got into a dispute with someone and went into his room and was shot, said Gregory SatorieRobinson, Jashawn Ivory’s friend and landlord, who was not at the home during the shooting.

Baltimore police confirmed that Ivory was shot in the house after a dispute but have not made any arrests. They would not release any additional details about their investigation.

Satorie-Robinson said he first met Ivory in an online chat forum. At the time, he was sleeping on a couch at his mother’s, looking for work and trying to move out. SatorieRobinson offered to lend him a shirt and tie for a job interview. He later offered Ivory a room and odd jobs on his rental homes.

Most recently, Satorie-Robinson said, he and Ivory were doing tile work in a bathroom at another rental house he owns.

“He had a bit of a flair. He was very bright, very helpful and just kind of a willing spirit,” he said.

He said he began offering rooms to individuals who are formerly homeless, overcoming drugs or otherwise struggling as an “effort to show some Christian compassion.” Satorie-Robinson, who is the minister of music at St John's United Church of Christ in Catonsville, often encourages the housemates to attend daily prayer.

Satorie-Robinson said Ivory “had words, an altercation of some kind,” with someone who didn’t live at the house. Ivory walked to his bedroom, where he was shot through the door, he said.

Police were called at 2:30 p.m. the next day and pronounced him dead at the scene.

Ivory’s mother said she did not learn her son was dead until Monday while she was at work.

She said she wants to know why no one called police earlier.