Background: The neighborhood in Baltimore, Md., where Desmond Gardner was shot on Jan. 26, 2023 (Google Maps). Inset: Desmond Gardner (Facebook).
A Maryland jury has found a man guilty in the tragic shooting of a young father who was killed during his lunch break while visiting his daughter.
Anthony Curry, aged 24, has been convicted of first-degree murder for the death of 27-year-old Desmond Gardner. The jury, after a five-day trial, reached their verdict after three hours of deliberation on Tuesday. Curry was one of two individuals charged in connection with Gardner’s murder, which took place on January 26, 2023.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office reported that Gardner, an employee at the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, was taking a break to see his daughter at an apartment on Spelman Road in Baltimore. As he neared the apartment, he was suddenly attacked by three masked individuals and shot in the back.
Another individual, Parris Harris, 20, was already convicted of first-degree murder in July 2024 and received a life sentence plus an additional 15 years this past March.
Investigations by the Maryland Attorney General and the FBI revealed that during the attack, one of the suspects was accidentally shot in the leg by another. However, their search for any gunshot victims at local hospitals did not yield results.
Six days after the murder, Baltimore police were inspecting a vehicle suspected to be stolen. Inside that car was Harris, who attempted to flee after locking the glove compartment. When police apprehended him, they discovered a handgun inside the vehicle. Ballistic tests later confirmed that this gun matched the shell casings found at the Gardner murder scene.
Harris was also seen in Instagram videos showing off the same gun.
Instagram was also part of the evidence presented in Curry’s case. The Maryland AG stated that an Instagram photo showed him wearing the same pants that he was seen wearing in surveillance camera footage that captured the deadly ambush on Gardner.
Cellphone evidence also pointed toward Curry’s guilt. The Maryland AG stated that on the day of Gardner’s murder, police tracked Harris’ cellphone to George Washington Hospital Trauma Center in Washington, D.C., where Curry was treated for gunshot wounds to the leg.
Curry was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and a firearms charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2026.
