Man sentenced to 2 life terms in 2017 fatal shootings
A Northwest Baltimore man who police said shot multiple people, including two fatally, in 2017 and then led police on a high-speed chase while firing at officers was sentenced to two life terms plus 60 years in prison.
The Baltimore City state’s attorney’s office wrote in a news release that Mausean Carter, 31, was sentenced after being convicted of first- and seconddegree murder, six counts of attempted murder and firearms offenses.
His sentence comes after a complicated trial in February. Carter was convicted of some charges but the jury deadlocked over whether Carter killed Martell Harris on Reisterstown Road and Ali Ouedraogo, who police said was killed by a bullet that went through a convenience store wall and struck Ouedraogo in the head while he was praying.
Prosecutors said in February that they would try Carter again for the killings and, in June, the state’s attorney’s office announced that Carter had been found guilty of first-degree murder in Harris’ killing.
An attorney for Carter was not available for comment late Wednesday.
Carter, a resident of the Park Heights neighborhood, led police on a high-speed chase through Baltimore in December 2017 while firing at officers, much of which was could be watched online.
Prosecutors said Carter shot several people Dec. 14, 2017, because he had felt increasingly pressured by drug dealers in his neighborhood and started his own war on drugs to stop it.
Police said Carter killed Ouedraogo and Harris in a spree during which officers responded to three separate shootings over a roughly eight-hour period.
Harris died at the hospital after he was found unresponsive and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the 4500 block of Reisterstown Road.
Ouedraogo, a Muslim, was found dead a few hours later from a single gunshot to the head.
Police said Carter fired the bullet through the convenience store where Ouedraogo worked, striking him in the head and killing him while he was praying in the back of the store.
Police said witnesses and surveillance footage showed a driver firing a handgun and assault-style weapon out of a gray four-door sedan at both scenes.
When police pulled over a vehicle matching the description the next day and asked Carter to step out, he took off, leading police on a 50-minute high-speed chase that was widely watched online as he fired rounds at pursuing officers.
During the pursuit, police said, Carter injured three people as he fired at officers, including a handyman who became disabled as a result of his injuries.
Carter eventually was apprehended when the chase ended at Gwynns Falls Parkway and Reisterstown Road.
Carter pleaded not criminally responsible, Maryland’s version of an insanity plea, but a jury ruled in February that Carter was sane and should be held responsible for the crimes for which he was convicted.