Demond Scroggins

Demond Scroggins, a 44-year-old Black man known affectionately as "Dee," was a devoted family man born and raised in East Baltimore, Maryland. Remembered by loved ones as playful, understanding, and fun to be around, he was a father to four children and was considered a parental figure by many of their friends. According to his father, Charles Goods, Demond had a criminal past but was determined to turn his life around. In the weeks before his death, he had expressed plans to go back to school and was looking for a job, hoping to be hired by the Safe Streets anti-violence program.

On the night of September 9, 2019, Demond called his girlfriend to tell her he had just been in a fight with her co-worker and was on his way home on his bike. Later that night, at around 11:30 p.m., police were called to the girlfriend's residence in the 1200 block of East Lafayette Avenue. Inside the home, officers found Demond Scroggins, who had been shot twice. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.

The investigation led police to a suspect, Ronald Brady, Jr., who was charged with Demond's murder on April 30, 2020. At the time of the shooting, Demond's girlfriend was an employee of Safe Streets. Investigators learned that Brady had also been a Safe Streets employee, working as a site director for the organization from June 2019 until he was fired on September 18, 2019, just over a week after Demond was killed.

Ronald Brady, Jr. first went to trial for the murder in 2022. That proceeding ended with a hung jury, forcing a new trial. In March 2023, Brady was acquitted of all charges related to the death of Demond Scroggins.

Following the acquittal, no one has been convicted in the killing. As of March 2023, the murder of Demond Scroggins remains unsolved. Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at (410) 396-2100 or to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.