Homeless man’s friends remember him after death

Michael Abey met tragedy early in his life.

Orphaned as a 16-year-old, the Perry Hall High School graduate struggled with mental health symptoms and substance abuse beginning in his early 20s. When he died last week, he was homeless.

Abey, 67, was shot and killed in Essex, Baltimore County Police said Tuesday.

Baltimore County Police were called to the intersection of North Taylor Avenue and Eastern Boulevard on Nov. 8 for a report of a cardiac arrest. When officers arrived in the 400 block of Eastern they found Abey “bloodied and unresponsive,” police said. Medics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Abey was shot multiple times, an autopsy found. Police announced Tuesday that his death had been ruled a homicide.

More than two dozen people gathered Wednesday night outside 444 Liquor and Sports Bar in Essex to honor his life at a vigil organized by Heather Crawford, who knew Abey as a kind customer at the liquor store where she works. She was joined by his friends, neighbors and advocates for homeless people, including Baltimore housing activist Christina Flowers.

“We need to remember Mike,” Crawford said. “He matters. He’s not invisible.”

Baltimore County detectives are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 410-307-2020.

Before losing his housing in July, Abey had for years shared a house with a few other men on Mace Avenue in Essex, where his neighbors described him as a gentle, quiet man. After one roommate was hospitalized, it became harder for Abey to live independently, neighbors Nancy Watson and Jeff Soter said.

“He should have never been homeless,” Crawford said. “We need to really step up and take care of each other.”

While those who knew Abey more recently recalled a tall, monosyllabic man with wiry hair who mostly refused their offers of cash, his high school friends remembered him as a sweet and talkative music lover who wore his hair long and hosted friends for pool games in the basement of his family’s home.

“We’re here tonight because even though he was homeless, even though he was living on the street, he was somebody and needs to be remembered,” said Robert Bragg, Abey’s classmate from the Perry Hall High School class of 1973 and a former neighbor.

Abey’s mother died of brain cancer when he was in 11th grade, Bragg said. Then his father suffered a heart attack at his mother’s funeral and died that night.

The youngest of five children, Abey lived with a sibling until he finished high school, then crashed for stints with friends who tried to help him as he grappled with his grief, emerging mental health symptoms and addiction.

“He was just a lost soul,” Bragg said, joined at the vigil by two other Perry Hall friends of Abey’s.

“A number of us friends tried to do what we could.”

Bragg said he helped Abey enroll at Essex Community College and apply for public benefits, but his friend’s mental health issues — he sometimes appeared out of touch with reality — made it difficult for Abey to maintain stability.

“I guess there wasn’t anybody to advocate for him,” said Paul Dillow, another Perry Hall classmate.

Holding red roses and candles, Abey’s friends and homeless advocates shared memories and prayers outside an empty storefront on the corner of Eastern Boulevard and North Taylor Avenue, near a stain on the sidewalk that Crawford said had come from Abey’s blood.

“It’s been over a week and it still hasn’t been cleaned,” she said. “It’s like he didn’t even matter.”

By the time the group of mourners dispersed, rose petals had been scattered over the sidewalk, covering the dark spot that remained behind.