UPDATE: Harford County Sheriff’s Office detectives have charged Donnell Graham, age 17, of the 200 block of Fairwood Drive in Bel Air, MD for the homicide of Patrick Xavier Ward, age 29, of the 900 block of Redfield Roadin Bel Air, MD. Ward was stabbed multiple times in the upper torso, while inside of his apartment on August 5, 2011 at approximately 8:50pm.
Neighbors nearby indicated that they heard an argument coming from inside of Ward’s apartment. After attempting to unsuccessfully gain access to the victim’s apartment by the front door, the neighbors climbed in the victim’s balcony and gained entrance to his apartment. Once inside, they saw the suspect, a young black male who quickly fled the apartment. Ward was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center by Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company where he was pronounced deceased upon arrival.
Based on information provided at the scene by neighbors and witnesses, patrol deputies were able to quickly identify the suspect – Donnell Graham. A canine track led deputies from the crime scene to the front of the suspect’s apartment building. Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies were able to take Graham into custody without incident.
Detectives have determined that the suspect, Graham, had attempted to burglarize the victims’ home, when he was unexpectedly confronted by the victim and stabbed him multiple times.
Donnell Graham, age 17, of the 200 block of Fairwood Drive in Bel Air, MD has been charged with 1st & 2nd degree Murder, 1st & 2nd degree assault, and possession of a dangerous weapon with the intent to injure. He was transported to the Harford County Detention Center for processing and is currently being held with no bond as the result of his initial hearing with the District Court Commissioner. His bond review is scheduled for Monday, August 8, 2011 at 1:15 pm at the District Court in Bel Air.
good job to the deputies in there quick response and taking the suspect into custody.
absolutely. kudos to all law enforcement officers involved for tracking down and apprehending the suspect. good police work!
Bel Air aye…hmmm…last I heard crime doesn’t happen in the Bel Air (its those “other” towns). Maybe you meant Belarus..yeah that’s it. Now sweep up this mess and light a glade candle so we can all go back to fantasy land.
You have no idea what kind of trash is created locally. You pretend it doesn’t originate here but it does. It’s not just some other community’s problem. They even come from “so called good” families that put their kids in “good” local schools so they can grow up and become enabled irresponsible adults. The suspect may very well be from Baltimore, but you don’t have a strangle hold on decent people in this county by any means.
Thats what happens when these inner city hood rats come around.
exactly im pretty sure he was a transplant from the city
@Really???
I knew Patrick Ward. HE was a transplant from the city, and also the type of guy who would question such a generalization about someone.
He may question it, but he provided the evidence for such generalizations.
Rob in Bel Air…You should change your handle to Rob the idiot from Bel Air!
Ah yes, welcome to the Dagger, where everyone is judgemental, mean, and nasty.
Another fine example of Afro-American youth. Rob and stab a blind man. I’m waiting for the typical “My boy be good, he be forced to crime by racism” post. Wonder how many priors this piece of filth has. We’ll probably never know, he’s a minor and we have to protect his sibal rahts. Wonder if he’s related to the gangs of black kids attacking whites at the Wisconson state fair. Or the darkies shooting up a bus in Philadelphia.
@pavel314, I’m going out on a limb that 8th grade was a stretch for you along with not having many branches on the family tree.
@pavel 314 and educated – pavel 314 sounds like he is from Harfordtucky.
Send him to jail for life.
“The Seasons” apartment complex is simply living up to it’s State obligations to “Section 8.” Thank you, Gov. O’Malley, and all the other progressive co-horts in this state.
Bel Air . . . the new Edgewood.
An Atlantic Monthly article convincingly linked the “decline” of some city crime to the rise of suburban crime. It was the result of relocation social experiments like Section 8 throughout the country.
This is only logical, and inevitable. Look up what happened in Houston after they hosted Katrina refugees. It’s about where you put certain incorrigible classes of people (of any color).
I just hope people keep this in mind when they vote next time.
I keep playing over and over in my head how Pat must have felt having this happen to him. He was, is and always will be a caring, good hearted and funny as shit guy who was the last person on earth this should have ever happened to.
I know you can see now buddy, tell Jesus to help heal all this hurt your friends and family are dealing with. R.I.P. and I’m so sorry for letting work keep me from swinging by for a few laughs. MFY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great job neighbors (of victim) and HCSO personnel. I’ve read some of the comments about the suspect being a transplant from the “City” and I have to add that not all transplants from the city commit crime. I came from the city in the late 50s and in my teen years grew up in the Edgewood/Joppa area (without killing, robbing, or hurting anyone). Edgewood changed with new housing developments and an obvious migration from the city and certain areas of Baltimore County. Now, in certain areas of Edgewood, many will not tread (not like it use to be).
I had a recent conversation with a friend who spoke of a bowling alley / movie theater I believe on Monument Street. When she was young her family (who lived int he city) would go to this place and for a few dollars bowl a couple of games and then go upstairs to watch a movie. I aske her, if it was still there today would you go? She said, “Absolutely not.” I asked why and she said the neighborhood changed and you would be taking your own life into your hands by just walking down the street. I asked, how did the neighborhood change and who changed it? The answer – you figure it out.
Well, I saw that happen in Edgewood and now in other parts of the county. Why is it happening? I don’t think it takes a sociologist or other professional from that field to figure it out.
Rob the victim was a transplant. Sorry you are from Baltimore but you came up in the 50s not this decade. Totally different ball game.
Brandon,
I agree with you that times have changed and so have the people. When I was a kid, and living in Baltimore, we played in Patterson Park. It was a great time . . . can you do that now? Of course not. The question is why? Who is to blame?
I’ll have to check, but I’m not sure there’s been any official word of there the kid was from, other than the assumptions being made. I’ll see what I can find out.
Interesting example, Rob, of Patterson Park. I lived directly across from the park at the corner of Patterson Park Ave. and Eastern for a couple months about three years ago. A decade or two ago, it definitely wasn’t a good area. But a community group got together, the Friends of Patterson Park, and made great strides in reclaiming the pagoda in the northeast corner and cleaning the whole area up.
By the time I got there, I could play softball and hang out in the park just about every day, and I never had a problem. But there were still nightly flyovers by the Baltimore City PD chopper, scanning the park with its spotlight, and the general advice was always never to cut through the park at night.
It’s a long, tough process to reclaim these non-Fells Point/Canton/Fed Hill neighborhoods. It’s a painful idea that gets a lot of push-back, but condensing some of the largely empty neighborhoods would help–the city is only about two-thirds full from the height of its population.
Yeah Rob I hear you, but the problem is this didn’t happen in Edgewood or Joppatowne…it happened in Bel Air. And to try and rationalize it away by deflecting its impact outside of the area isn’t going to solve anything. Both residents, whether you like it or not, lived in Bel Air. Could they have been from Baltimore City/County at sometime in the past, show me those old baltimore city/county folks in Bel Air who aren’t from years ago. They just got used to sniffing they’re own flatulence and living in a bubble to realize what was creeping in. If Edgewood, Aberdeen, or even Joppatowne could explain crime away by saying it was a Rt 40 migration that that would be peachy but in the end it doesn’t address the situation. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. The county allowed this migration while raking in big bucks for landlords and low-rent apartment complexes.
Drugs come up from I-95 and Rt 40…hell its state recognized as being mass produced in Fallston and North Harford County…..does that mean its any less of an issue. “Oh the drugs came from south of I-95…back to our Wal-Mart Plumtree watch”. This type of attitude is exactly whey we as citizens have let Rt 40 politics and developers exchange business cards in the downfall of both quality of life in Harford and housing destruction. Look at farmland just off 40 where it was just two years ago and what’s popping up now. Ag is gone for more Burb sprawl. Follow the bread crumbs of financing in this county and you’ll see this has been happening for a while my friend.
@Yellowbrickroad, thank you for your post. I live in Edgewood and I get very frustrated with the negative comments. No one wants to talk about the real issue and who has benefited from the City to County housing placement this has been going on for a very long time. Its soo easy for everyone to just say its an Edgewood or Rt40 issue when its an economic issue as well as social one. When I went to school in Bel Air in the 80’s and 90’s fallston and bel air were the HOT spots for drugs. People need to wake up
Pat Ward was a great man. RIP. He had some bad luck over his last years. My prayers go out to his family. It is sad that as previously stated he was a transplant from west Baltimore. I remember a time we were on 695 driving and he showed me where to get off to go to his part of Baltimore. His family came up to Bel Air it had been at least 10 years bit he always talked of moving back down to Baltimore… it such a shame.
do you know when people are mentioning the whole “transplant” they are referring to the suspect!!!
Not when I say transplant. I know pat and I know hos family moved from Baltimore city in the early 90s. He was what I was referring to. The suspect is also a transplant it seems he was released from juvenile detention on western MD so he isn’t local.
IT’S OFFICIAL
There is now a Drudge link to another local online account of this crime.
Redfield road, The Seasons, and Bel Air will now receive attention from the whole nation (and world).
Thanks, Lil’ Donnell….
Do you have a weblink?
You can find it on Drudge – I will respect this site by not linking to a competing local news outlet. Let’s just say it will be getting a lot more attention nationally.
oh yeah, and lest any of you smug residents of the “Mayonnaise Belt” think this kind of crime can’t happen in your neck of the woods, just check out the migration up Harford Rd; it is heading to the heart of Fallston (gasp!) after ruining quiet peaceful neighborhoods like Cub Hill and others from Edison Highway north; you laughed and scoffed and called it a Rt40 problem and looked the other way; what you arrogant idiots failed to realize is that cancer SPREADS; today Bel Air, tommorrow Fallston. The tide of useless welfare/sec8/rental assistance cheats is rolling right in to wherever there is a rental unit available. Just waiting for the NAACP and the professional race baiters to figure out the intentional warehousing of assistance clients to the Rt40 corridor and the intentional exclusion from the North/West county. They did so in Balto City, tearing down the highrises and dispersing the criminal element to the once-stable surrounding communities. Those neighborhoods systematically exploded and sent the blight into Highlandtown, Govans, Towson, Parkville, Essex and Rosedale. Harford County is the logical destination for this malaise and its-a-comin’ folks. Give it two years and the welfare/public assistance juggernaught will creep along the Mountain Rd corridor and spread it’s cancerous tentacles. “Oh it can’t happen here! After all we are too white and we paid too much to be able to look down our noses at Route 40.” Yeah right. Remember when Rosedale/Towson/Middle River/Randallstown were thriving, safe, crime-free communities?
These comments are disgusting and exactly what I thought I would see when I read this article, as I frequent this website and have become familiar with the judgmental hate and idiocy often spewed in these comment sections. My thoughts and prayers are with the Ward family as they try to make sense of such a horrid occurrence. I could never imagine anything like this happening in to anyone I love. I grew up in Harford County and have been raising my family here as well. It is sad to see violence anywhere but it really hurts when it is in your backyard. However, my thoughts are also with the Graham family, they too have lost a child. It’s a sad shame. Being a mother I know that we can teach and guide our children to the best of our ability but we can’t stand over the shoulder 24/7. I pray that everyone in this situation can find peace.
I am again saddened by the hatred and prejudices presented in this forum. I find them to be inappropriate and highly offensive and unbefitting of any publication other than one dedicated to such. I attempted to post a tag as “inappropriate” but was blocked from doing so.
It is so convenient to group people and blame an entire race, neighborhood or a program for failures. Well, take a look in the mirror as to who failed. When standards are lowered, so are expectations. It was convenient to blame the “Route 40 Corridor” or “Section 8 Housing” or “Baltimore” or “Edgewood’, etc. Newsflash: If you set the bar low you will get exactly what you expected.
On the other hand I did have higher expectations of the readers of the DAGGER but I was fooled again. I will probably be canceling my subscription since The DAGGER does not police the info posted by racist ranters.
So, it’s just a coincidence that the suspects in TWO separate knifings, happening literally a few days and a few blocks apart in Bel Air, were NOT representative of the “typical Bel Air populance?”
It’s just a coincidence that there’s (documented) correlation between street crime and government housing programs?
“Setting the bar low” is now more than just “the subtle racism of lowered expectations.” It’s also an officially enforced policy in our government, civic, academic and economic institutions.
And everyone else is paying for it – while they keep their head buried in the sand
“I will probably be canceling my subscription…”
Really? How much do you pay to have The Dagger delivered to your doorstep? Do you also get the weekend edition for the coupons?
Pavel314 is a sorry excuse for an individual. He exposes himself as a bigot and loses all credibility. What is sad is the number of people who gave his racist rant a thumbs up.
@Pavel314 – Despicable post.
RIP Pat. I lived directly across from him with my 2 sons a few years ago. I cant believe such a kind soul is gone. I also cant believe that this happened there and that I could have watched it from my old window. It is scary. I know the seasons isnt the “best” neighborhood in Bel Air, but it is still in Bel Air and across the street from a prominent festival, and Applebee’s “your neighborhood bar and grill”. Plan and simple crime is everywhere but I feel it is getting more prevelant here and more “nasty”, if that is the right word not sure. Just more violent I guess. Now years ago there was a stabbing in the seasons when it was owned by someone else and was not section 8. It was noticed, but there was so much time in between crimes around here, now they seem to be occuring much more frequently. It is just sad. RIP pat 🙁
To everyone that if furious about the transplant comment. i know i was referring to the suspect and not the victim. And i am sure or atleast hope the others were also. Serious why would we refer to the victim as a transplant when he is simply the victim, it doesnt matter where he is from. We were talking about how and where the suspect grew up. I thought that was pretty much common sense.
Oh man— Did you guys see this: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/harford_county_crime/man-stabbed-to-death-in-belair
The mother of the victim said that he bought a suit to wear in his sister’s wedding, and she hoped to be able to find it so he could be buried in it. Man. What a tragic situation.