Police arrest suspect after 12-year-old fatally shot in East Baltimore

Police said officers arrested a man Sunday morning who is suspected of fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl in an East Baltimore rowhouse two days earlier.

Omar Passmore, 28, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Breaunna Cormley, according to a post on social media from the Baltimore Police Department.

Baltimore County officers located and arrested Passmore, city police said in the post.

Cormley was found inside a rowhouse in the 500 block of North Kenwood Avenue on Friday night.

“It was not accidental. This was done on purpose,” Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that night.

Mayor Brandon Scott, speaking Friday at a news conference near the house, called the shooter “the worst among us.”

“We will find out. You’ll never redeem yourself for what you did tonight,” Scott said.

By Sunday afternoon, there was little sign of the chaos that had flooded the block late Friday.

A neighbor sat on her steps a few homes away from the rowhome where Breaunna lived. The woman, who asked that her name not be published, described the 12-year-old as a quiet child who never got into trouble and rarely left the home, unless she was going to school.

The woman said that on Friday she was sitting on those same steps when Breaunna’s grandmother walked into her house. A few moments passed. Then, according to the woman and another neighbor, the grandmother ran out of the house and yelled, “She’s dead. She’s dead. ... He killed her.” It set off a chaotic scene that lasted for hours as police arrived, followed by city officials and journalists.

Police have not disclosed details about whether Passmore has ties to Breaunna or anyone in her family.

As the neighbor sitting on her steps Sunday recounted the grandmother’s horrific discovery, a handful of women walked up and down her street, carrying burning sage. They were part of Baltimore Peace Movement, a group that promotes nonviolence and love.

The women, led by co-founder Erricka Bridgeford, did not know Breaunna or her family. But they held a “sacred ground” ritual in front of her home.

“We come to say that this incident does not have the last word in this community,” Bridgeford said. “Love has the last say. ... Breaunna’s life matters.”