Biker found not guilty of murder in Baltimore mass shooting as jury deadlocks on conspiracy

A Thunderguards Motorcycle Club member was found not guilty on Monday of first- and second-degree murder in a mass shooting in East Baltimore that killed one person and wounded seven others. But the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on several other counts.

Jurors acquitted Eric Kibler of most of the charges against him in Baltimore Circuit Court but deadlocked on two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and related offenses.

They convicted Kibler, 44, of Hagerstown, of wearing, carrying or transporting a handgun without a permit and illegal possession of a regulated firearm. He’s set to be sentenced on May 8.

The mass shooting took place on Aug. 18, 2024, as bikers had gathered at their clubhouse on North Spring Street in Oliver near Caroline and Hoffman Park. Anthony “Chris” Martin was shot and killed. He was 36.

Assistant State’s Attorney Rita Wisthoff-Ito immediately announced that prosecutors will retry Kibler on the remaining counts, which also consist of first- and second-degree assault and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence.

At trial, Wisthoff-Ito asserted that Martin got into an argument with the bikers over a parking spot and then fired his gun one time in the air.

The dispute, she said, percolated throughout the evening.

Kibler kept watching Martin and talking with other people. Then multiple gunmen opened fire, Wisthoff-Ito said.

“Anthony Martin should be alive,” Wisthoff-Ito said in her closing argument. “He should be here today.”

Tony Garcia, Kibler’s attorney, contended that his client did not shoot anyone or direct other people to open fire.

“The state hasn’t proven this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Garcia said in his closing argument.

At one point, Garcia compared what happened to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, noting that more than a dozen guns were fired in the shootout.

Kibler was armed but had been minding his own business. Meanwhile, Martin was drunk and fired his weapon, Garcia said.

Police, he said, turned his client into a scapegoat. No one else was charged.

In an interview, Garcia said Kibler is “very grateful that the jury took the time and considered the facts of the case.”

“It is the state’s prerogative as to whether or not they will go forward on the counts of no verdict,” Garcia said. “My client still maintains his innocence.”

An unusual twist

Right before the jury started to deliberate, one of the people who was wounded, Cletis Holmes, contacted Garcia and claimed that he told Wisthoff-Ito that Kibler could not have been the person who shot him.

That’s because Holmes alleged that they were both facing the same direction at the time.

Holmes, 47, of Fort Washington, testified that he was friends with Kibler and a fellow member of the Thunderguards Motorcycle Club.

Circuit Judge Alan C. Lazerow later ruled that Holmes was not credible.

Holmes, he said, feigned an inability to remember the name of the biker who passed along Garcia’s cellphone number.

Later, Holmes testified that he only knew the man as “Moon.”

“I’m sure we all have our different theories of why he’s coming in at the last minute,” Lazerow said. “But the fact is, if this was important enough to bring up today, it would’ve been important enough to him to bring up before today.”

The jury concluded that Kibler was not guilty of shooting Holmes, anyway.