In the pre-dawn hours of December 16, 2021, Baltimore Police Officer Keona Holley, a 39-year-old mother of four, was ambushed while seated in her marked patrol car during an overtime shift in the Curtis Bay neighborhood. She was shot multiple times, including two bullets to the back of her head that caused catastrophic brain and neck injuries. Her patrol vehicle accelerated after the shooting, crashed through a fence and stopped in a park. She was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, underwent emergency surgery, remained on life support, and died after her family removed life support on December 23.

Investigators quickly linked the attack to two suspects, Elliot Knox, then 31, and Travon Shaw, then 32. Surveillance footage and license plate readers captured a vehicle registered to Knox leaving the scene. Within hours of Holley’s shooting, 38-year-old Justin Johnson was found shot to death in his car in a similar ambush-style killing in the Yale Heights neighborhood, about 11 miles away; police linked the same suspects to both crimes and recovered two firearms, one confirmed to have been used in both shootings. Both Knox and Shaw were arrested and confessed to involvement, though no clear motive has been publicly established.

Trials and pleas have produced convictions and lengthy sentences for both men, including guilty findings and life terms without parole in 2024. Did anyone in Curtis Bay or Yale Heights notice suspicious vehicles or activity around the early morning of December 16, 2021?