Major Kip Smith, a 61-year-old Black man, was shot and killed in broad daylight in Baltimore on the afternoon of Sunday, August 31, 2025. The shooting occurred around 3:15 p.m. in the 5000 block of Palmer Avenue in the Central Park Heights neighborhood, near a local playground. Officers who responded found Smith with gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterward.

Baltimore Police opened a homicide investigation immediately, canvassed the area for witnesses and evidence, and initially had no public suspects or motive. The killing was noted as occurring despite a citywide decline in homicides, reflecting a localized surge of violence in Park Heights that alarmed residents.

On October 14, 2025, police announced arrests in a series of recent violent crimes and identified 31-year-old Dontaye Richardson as the person charged in Major Kip Smith’s murder.

Did anyone in Central Park Heights see or hear anything that afternoon that could help investigators?