Case Description

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Summary based on 11 sources

On the night of October 7, 2024, the life of Damien Parker, a 26-year-old Black man, was ended by gunfire in East Baltimore. At approximately 10:56 p.m., police responded to a shooting in the 2300 block of Harford Road. Officers arrived to find Parker suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A medical examiner later determined that he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Homicide detectives began an investigation that soon focused on a black Infiniti captured on surveillance footage near the crime scene at the intersection of Harford Road and Normal Avenue. Two days after the shooting, police pursued a similar vehicle. The driver eventually stopped the car and fled on foot, allegedly discarding an object into the backyard of a vacant home as he ran. Officers recovered a Taurus G2c .40-caliber handgun from the area.

Forensic analysis provided crucial links in the case. Ballistic testing connected the recovered handgun to the shooting of Damien Parker, and DNA found on the weapon was consistent with that of Matthew Kintay Harper Jr. Based on this evidence, police arrested Harper, then 29, and charged him with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony violent crime, and other handgun offenses in connection with Parker's death.

In September 2026, Matthew Harper Jr., then 30, went on trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court before Judge Cynthia H. Jones. Prosecutors argued that surveillance footage, the black Infiniti, the recovered firearm, and DNA evidence all connected Harper to the crime. The defense countered that the prosecution had not proven Harper was inside the car at the time of the shooting.

After more than a week of testimony, the trial concluded without a verdict. On September 21, 2026, Judge Jones declared a mistrial after the jury announced it was deadlocked on the charges of first-degree murder and related firearm offenses. A second first-degree murder count was dismissed during the proceedings. The case remained unresolved as of September 2026.