Juvenile charged in fatal shooting

8-year-old girl was found critically injured in basement

A juvenile has been charged after an 8-year-old girl died from gunfire Wednesday night in Idlewylde, Baltimore County Police said.

“[T]his case is now with the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office and Department of Juvenile Services,” the department said in a news release Thursday afternoon.

Police said it remains an active investigation, and they won’t be releasing additional details because of the victim’s and suspect’s ages.

Department of Juvenile Services spokesperson Eric Solomon said the agency does not comment on juvenile cases due to confidentiality laws. The Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office did not respond late Thursday to a request for comment.

Police officers found the girl critically injured in the basement of a home Wednesday evening in the 6300 block of Sherwood Avenue before she was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, according to police.

A group of people who were gathered in front of the home about 11:30 a.m. Thursday declined to comment, saying it was too early to talk. Investigators believe the shooting was an isolated situation, police said.

“Any incident of gun violence is tragic, and even more so when it leads to the death of a child,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said in a statement Thursday morning. “All of Baltimore County grieves with the family who lost a child last night.”

Police didn’t indicate the relationship of the victim and alleged shooter or the sex of the suspect.

Trae Corbin, a Baltimore County Police spokesperson, declined at the scene Wednesday night to share details about the shooting. He said officers responded at about 9:25 p.m. to the reported shooting.

It occurred in a home in a strip of rowhouses on the south side of the small commercial area along Sherwood Avenue in the Idlewylde neighborhood of Towson.

Crime tape had been placed around sections of the block as investigators gathered outside a brick multifamily residence surrounded by chain-link fencing.

Police said they believe there is no threat to the public.