Lamont Clifton Randell Jr., a 39-year-old Black / African American man, was known on the street as "Dirty." He was born in Maryland on August 18, 1975. Little is publicly known about his personal life, but his death was part of a wave of violence that gripped Baltimore in the summer of 2015. That July was the city's deadliest month in over four decades, with 45 homicides recorded, leaving families and communities reeling from the relentless bloodshed. The period followed the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, an event that had sparked widespread unrest and tension throughout the city.
On the night of July 7, 2015, Lamont was with a group of people on the 900 block of West Fayette Street, in the Poppleton neighborhood and near the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus. At around 10:30 p.m., the summer evening was shattered by a sudden and brutal attack. Two vans, one white and the other burgundy, pulled up to the curb. Multiple assailants jumped out of the vehicles and opened fire on the crowd without warning. The hail of bullets created chaos and panic as people scrambled for cover.
When the gunfire ceased, three people lay dead or dying on the sidewalk. Lamont Randell was pronounced dead at the scene. Also killed in the barrage were 34-year-old Gerald Thompson and 53-year-old Jacqueline Parker. A fourth person, an unidentified woman, was shot in the buttocks but survived her injuries and was reported to be in good condition after being treated at a local hospital. The brazenness and indiscriminate nature of the shooting sent a shockwave through the neighborhood.
The Baltimore Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation. Detectives quickly determined that the attack was not a random act of violence. They publicly stated their belief that the shooting was a targeted crime, though they did not specify who the intended target was. Investigators later connected the deadly assault to an internal conflict within the Black Guerrilla Family gang. Law enforcement sources expressed concern that Lamont's murder, in particular, could trigger a cycle of retaliatory violence on the streets.
In the days following the triple homicide, Lamont's family prepared to say their final goodbyes. A public viewing was held on July 14, 2015, at Perkins Square Baptist Church on Edmondson Avenue, followed by a wake and funeral service at the same church the next morning. He was laid to rest at Loudon Park Cemetery.
Despite identifying the shooting as a targeted, gang-related incident and appealing to the public for information, the investigation into the murders of Lamont Randell, Gerald Thompson, and Jacqueline Parker has grown cold. The individuals who emerged from the two vans and fired into the crowd have never been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in the case. As of July 2026, the case remains an open and unsolved investigation for the Baltimore Police Department, one of many unresolved killings from a month marked by unprecedented violence in the city's history. The families of the three victims are still waiting for justice.
