Court records: Homeless man arrested following failed robbery attempt in south Baltimore

Detectives arrested a homeless man suspected of shooting another man following a failed robbery attempt in south Baltimore last week, according to court records.

Charging documents for Preston Freeman. (WBFF)

Last week, the Baltimore Police Department announced the arrest of Preston Freeman, 31, in connection to a shooting that happened in the 4000 block of 5th Avenue on Feb. 10.

On that day, the man had been walking to work when he was approached by Freeman. The charging documents for Freeman state that he had been wearing a green jacket, black pants, a ski mask, and riding a small bicycle.

Freeman asked the man for some money. The man replied that he had no money, which upset Freeman. It was at that point that Freeman instructed the man to get on his knees, according to the charging documents.

Court records describe how Freeman displayed a brown firearm, went through the man’s pockets, pistol-whipped him, and then shot him in the right forearm.

“The suspect then fled the area on his bicycle southbound towards Baltimore County,” court records state. “[The victim] stated the suspect didn’t take anything from him after going through his pockets because he didn’t have anything to take.”

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Afterward, the victim received preliminary medical treatment at a fire station in the 400 block of Maude Avenue., which is where police found him, according to the charging documents.

Detectives were able to track down Freeman through unrelated police activity. Investigators describe in the documents how officers were in the process of detaining a woman with an open warrant for her arrest following a traffic stop when a man on a bicycle rode up to the arrest site.

The man was wearing a blue and white hoodie at the time. He stopped to check on the woman who identified him as Preston.

“After the description of the shooter was given, SD patrol officers went back to their body cameras and was able to screenshot a photo of Preston as a possible suspect,” court records state. “This detective printed out a still shot of the body camera photo and showed [the victim], [the victim] stated that the photo shown to him was the person that attacked him.”

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Further confirmation was made through a search of arrest databases, which is where detectives found Freeman’s mugshot, according to the charging documents.

A detective took the still shot and a booking photo of Freeman and took them to the Baltimore Central Booking & Intake Center. The detective showed the photos to the woman whom officers arrested before she was released from police custody. Court records state that identified the person in the pictures as her friend “Presjon” who spells his name with a “j.”

Preston Freeman mugshot (Baltimore Police Department){ }

The woman told the detective that she had known Freeman for about a year because they were both homeless and a part of the same homeless community.

That’s how investigators were able to determine that Freeman was the suspected shooter, according to the charging documents.

Freeman has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, attempted theft of over $100 to under $1,500, and several firearm violations.