Death of woman ruled a homicide

Victim was shot, paralyzed in 1997, succumbed to complications in August

The death of a woman who was paralyzed in a 1997 shooting and died in August has been ruled a homicide, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

Myeshia Nelson, 41, died Aug. 7, according to an online obituary, more than 21 years after she was shot in Baltimore’s MadisonEastend neighborhood. The medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide on Oct. 19, police said.

Nelson was shot in the back while she was in a vehicle in the 700 block of N. Lakewood Ave., police said. The shooting paralyzed her, according to police.

Kavon Graves, 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder and a handgun violation in Nelson’s shooting in 1997, according to police and online court records. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison with 12 years suspended, court records show.

More than 290 people have been killed in Baltimore in 2018. The city is closing in on a fourth consecutive year with at least 300 killings.

Police also released the identities Tuesday of several shooting victims over the weekend.

Anthony Grant, a 17-year-old from Sandtown-Winchester, was killed Sunday in the 2200 block of Christian St. in Southwest Baltimore’s Carrollton Ridge neighborhood.

And 23-year-old Mark Anthony Pearce, of Northwest Baltimore’s Grove Park neighborhood, was killed Sunday in the 900 block of E. Preston St. in Johnston Square.

The East Baltimore neighborhood also was the site of Jacquelyn Smith’s fatal stabbing early Saturday. Smith, an Aberdeen engineer, was killed after she rolled down her car window to give money to a panhandler, her husband said.

Their deaths followed the killing of 48 year-old Walter Paige Jr., of East Baltimore’s Frankford neighborhood, on Friday. Paige was killed in the 5400 block of Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore’s Woodmere neighborhood, according to police.