Police responded to a reported shooting at 12:55 a.m. on June 30 in the 1100 block of East Preston Street. A 33-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital, police said.

The man was pronounced dead as a result of his gunshot wounds. Homicide detectives were notified on Saturday of the death and are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Baltimore City Homicides

Baltimore Police responded to the crash at 1:22 a.m. on the 800 block of North Carey Street. The passenger, a 26-year-old man, was trapped in a vehicle and extracted by the fire department. The passenger was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the vehicle left on foot, according to police. The car was not reported as stolen.

The Accident Investigation Unit responded to the scene and is investigating the crash.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

“I haven’t had a new one in a long time,” Gehrig said.

City Manager Terry McGean mused that some Ocean City visitors will have keychains with 10 telescopes commemorating generations of family trips.

So when the owners of Telescope Pictures, the sole bearer of the 75-year-old Ocean City tradition, asked the council for help staying afloat, the council had no hesitation in lending a hand.

“There are traditions that are important to Ocean City, but some of our traditions have been lost over the years because times have changed,” Mayor Richard Meehan said at the meeting. “This is one worth holding onto.”

The council unanimously voted to reduce the annual franchise fee for Telescope Pictures during a working session on July 15.

Telescope Pictures, a beach photography business, is a unique tradition where photographers approach beachgoers in Ocean City and take a photo to put inside a “telescope” as a souvenir.

Jon Cameron, who owns Telescope Pictures with his wife, Samantha, said the proliferation of cellphones and heightened labor costs have contributed to the company’s recent struggles.

“Everyone’s a photographer, and we have to prove to the customers through our actions, through our words, through our friendly manner [and] all the things that we do that what we do is better than what they can do,” Jon Cameron said during the meeting.

The company has since evolved, now offering framed photos and ornaments, for example, McGean explained.

When Jon Cameron worked as an employee selling telescope photos on the beach 25 years ago, he said he only got paid on commission. Now, with minimum wage requirements, employees are paid even without making a sale, and he said it’s “extremely challenging because of motivating young adults.”

He also pointed to increased minimum wage in Maryland as a factor in increased labor costs. The state’s minimum wage has been steadily increasing over the years, reaching $15 per hour in 2024.

McGean told The Baltimore Sun the beach photography business was once competitive, causing the city to divide the beach for different operators. The last time the city put out a bid, the Camerons were the only bidder on the south end of Ocean City, with no bids on the north end, McGean said.

The Camerons signed a four-year contract with the city in December 2018 at $152,000 per year. Then, in the following summer, they expressed interest in the other open bid, and the council accepted their bid of $76,250 per year for four years in September 2019, according to meeting documents.

With popularity dropping, the Camerons approached the council last week for short- and long-term assistance. One of the requests was eliminating the annual fee from the second franchise bid, reducing their total annual fee by $76,250.

“The fact they are willing to maintain and honor the initial bid price they had, we believe it is acceptable,” McGean said to the council during the meeting.

The council has supported Telescope Pictures in the past, altering the payment structure and eliminating a 10% increase in September 2023, as well as granting a payment extension last month, according to meeting documents.

All council members expressed interest in supporting the historic industry. Mayor Meehan noted how he has never received a complaint about the beach photography franchise, even though he’s received complaints for “just about everything.”

“They have always been good ambassadors for Ocean City on the beach,” Meehan said during the meeting.

The Camerons also asked for a three-year contract extension into November 2030 and a collaboration with the city’s tourism department. This collaboration could include the town’s logo on the telescopes or sending photographers to town events, McGean said.

McGean said there is no hesitation for the contract extension from the City Council, but it requires a change in ordinance, which can only happen at a formal meeting. The first reading of the ordinance change will be Aug. 18.

Gehrig expressed concern over the lack of details in the tourism collaboration and suggested pushing it to a later date.

The council elected to vote only on the annual fee reduction, which passed with a 6-0 vote.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Travon Booth, 43, was found dead in a vehicle following a single-vehicle crash last Saturday on the JFX near the Ruxton Road exit. The medical examiner’s office ruled Booth’s death a homicide because of multiple blunt force injuries, according to the police report.

Police charged the suspect with second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault.

Baltimore Police Homicide detectives were notified of the victim on Tuesday. They determined the events leading up to the homicide occurred in the 1100 block of West Northern Parkway in Baltimore’s North Roland Park/Poplar Hill area, near the city’s northern edge.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Patrick Estrella, 77, was convicted on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of third-degree sex offense stemming from two victims — an 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old girl — at the camp last summer.

Estrella, of Clarksburg, was a counselor and chess teacher at the camp from 2013 to 2024. The camp is held at Luxmanor Elementary School, where the Chinese American School rents space, according to a release from the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Central to the conviction was a video recorded by a 16-year-old counselor who noticed Estrella sexually assaulting the girls. The counselor set up his phone on a ledge and used his watch to remotely record Estrella touching the girls inappropriately, using his hand and making contact with them using his groin, according to the release.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the young man who witnessed these assaults on vulnerable victims and decided to act. The video he recorded became crucial evidence in the case. Thanks to his brave actions, the thorough investigation by Montgomery County Police and the work of our prosecution team, the defendant will no longer be able to harm another child in our community,” said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy in a statement.

Videos from the counselor showed Estrella touching the girls on their buttocks and picking one of them up before moving his torso against her in a motion “consistent with sexual intercourse,” according to charging documents.

The sexual assault occurred Aug. 1, 2024, and the Montgomery County Police Special Victims Investigations Division opened an investigation the same day. A warrant for Estrella’s arrest was issued Sept. 13.

Judge J. Bradford McCullough presided over the three-day trial that began Monday and is scheduled to oversee sentencing Oct. 24. Estrella faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.

Attorneys representing Estrella could not be immediately reached for comment.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Mary Elizabeth Moody, a 71-year-old from Germantown, was pronounced dead at the scene, despite lifesaving efforts. A man, the other driver, was taken to a hospital with “serious injuries,” according to Montgomery County Police in a Wednesday news release.

Moody, driving a 2018 Subaru, was turning left onto Mateny Road from southbound Great Seneca Highway. A 2021 Mazda, traveling north on Great Seneca Highway, struck the Subaru, which caused it to roll over and eject her.

Police and the Montgomery County Fire Rescue responded around 10:35 p.m.

The crash is being investigated by the police department’s Collision Reconstruction Unit.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Travon Booth, 43, was found dead in the vehicle near the Ruxton Road exit of northbound Interstate 83, police said. Booth was taken to the medical examiner’s office, where his death was ruled a homicide.

Homicide detectives learned of the death from Maryland State Police on Tuesday and believe the events leading up to the crash took place on the 1100 block of the West Northern Parkway in Baltimore’s North Roland Park/Poplar Hill area, near the city’s northern edge.

Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Baltimore City Homicides

“An unauthorized individual accessed our meeting and displayed antisemitic, racist, and obscene adult content that was deeply offensive, threatening, and inappropriate in nature,” the statement reads. “This appalling act, which is being investigated as a hate crime, undoubtedly impacted and caused harm to members of our school community. We strongly and unequivocally renounce this criminal act.”

The video was displayed to in-person participants at the Tuesday meeting, while the live video online was paused, a City Schools spokesperson said in a separate statement. After the video aired, the meeting was briefly recessed as officials determined the implications and the safest way to proceed.

The district said Baltimore City School Police, in collaboration with the Baltimore Police Department,  are investigating and that additional security measures are being implemented to prevent similar disruptions in the future.

“In our haste to communicate about pausing the meeting, we regret that we failed to acknowledge the harm that the image caused,” the latest statement reads. “We take this matter very seriously and are doing everything possible to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Steadfast in our values, we will not allow the malicious actions of any individuals to disrupt the trust we have built with our community.”

The video comes after a cybersecurity breach at City Schools that affected about 1,000 students earlier this year.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

Eduardo Valdivia, 41, was convicted on six counts of second-degree rape and two counts of fourth-degree sex offense following a two-week trial. Valdivia faces a maximum of 122 years in prison with his sentencing date set for Oct. 14.

Two victims in their early 20s came forward in late 2024 to report that Valdivia had raped them in his tattoo parlor in Gaithersburg, with one of the victims reporting he also raped her at a nearby hotel, according to charging documents.

After Valdivia’s arrest in November 2024 was made public in a news release by the Montgomery County Police Department, a third victim came forward to report that Valdivia raped her at a different tattoo parlor in Potomac in summer 2022, when she was 18.

“He selected, systematically, vulnerable, unsophisticated young girls that were caught up in the lure of getting their first tattoo for free or the potential of a modeling career,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said during a news conference Monday.

McCarthy pointed out how Valdivia is a married man and the father of three girls.

“This is one of the most dastardly evil, schemed crimes I’ve seen in 40 years,” he said.

Valdivia was a supervisory special agent for over a decade with the FBI, where he was specially trained in covert surveillance, tactics and deception, McCarthy said.

“He just used his skills he had honed over nearly 15 years with the FBI to allow him to manipulate, for the purposes of sex, these three young victims,” McCarthy said.

Valdivia was recently on trial for an unrelated attempted murder in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2022 after shooting at an unarmed man asking him for money and confronting him on a Metro train in December 2021. He was acquitted on all charges.

Valdivia operated a tattoo parlor called “DC Fine Line Tattoos” and ran an Instagram account under the same name. He used several aliases, including the tattoo artist “Lalo Brown,” the photographer “L Boogie” and the psychologist CEO of a well-known modeling agency “Dr. Tiffany Kim,” McCarthy said.

According to court documents, Valdivia messaged one victim on Instagram from the “DC Fine Line Tattoos” account, asking her to model her tattoo and later offered a modeling opportunity through “Dr. Tiffany Kim.” The woman agreed and met Valdivia at his tattoo parlor on the second floor of a commercial building in Gaithersburg.

The woman signed a contract upon arrival, and during the photo shoot, Valdivia initiated forced sexual contact, according to court documents. The woman, scared of repercussions from the contract, agreed to meet Valdivia for a second photo shoot at a nearby hotel, where she was raped.

McCarthy said there were situations where breaching the fake contract meant owing money to the modeling agency.

A second victim reported a similar story, where Valdivia offered modeling opportunities to the woman during a tattoo appointment. During a photo shoot in the tattoo parlor, Valdivia raped her and threatened her with legal repercussions through emails from “Dr. Tiffany Kim” after she left, according to court documents.

The two victims found photos of themselves Valdivia had taken on an Instagram account called “exetermodels,” according to court documents.

A third victim came forward after hearing of Valdivia’s arrest. The woman was raped in Valdivia’s tattoo parlor in a strip mall in Potomac in summer 2022. She was a senior in high school at the time.

A jury found Valdivia guilty on six counts of second-degree rape and two counts of fourth-degree sexual offense after just over three hours of deliberation Friday.

Attorneys for Valdivia did not respond to requests for comment.

Judge Cheryl McCally, who presided over the trial, will sentence Valdivia on Oct. 14. McCarthy said he is seeking 122 years of imprisonment, the maximum sentence allowable by law.

“It takes a lot of bravery to do what these young women did, particularly against a person who they come to learn is an FBI agent,” McCarthy said. “That’s pretty daunting, and they’re young.”

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.

The structure fire in Westernport occurred at 3:22 a.m. and took 30 minutes to control, the office said in a Monday notice. First discovered by a resident, the fire originated in the living room on the first floor of the two-story, single-family home.

One firefighter suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries, and 15 dogs and three cats died or are missing.

The house sustained an estimated $225,000 in damages.

Seventy-five firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire, with Potomac Fire Company #2 being the primary department.

The family of residents is being assisted by the American Red Cross. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or on X at @bnords03.