UPDATED: 30-Year-Old Man Charged with Fatally Shooting Acquaintance At Sky Zone Trampoline Park In Timonium
Suspect Being Held Without Bond On First-Degree Murder Charges
By Gary Gately
A 30-year-old Colorado man has been charged with first-degree murder in the Saturday evening shooting death of a Baltimore father at the Sky Zone Trampoline Park in Lutherville, police said.
Quinton Raymon Walker, of Commerce City in suburban Denver was being held without bond Sunday night at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
Police say he had been in a dispute with the victim, Marcus Whitehead, 32, and that they knew each other. Walker pumped multiple bullets into his acquaintance’s torso just before 7 p.m. Saturday night at Sky Zone. Whitehead died shortly after arriving by medevac helicopter at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Witnesses said the gunmen fired at least six shots at the popular party spot thousands of Baltimore-area parents visit each year to celebrate children’s birthdays and other special occasions.
Police did not say how many shots were fired, but two witnesses, one of them a Sky Zone employee, said they heard at least six shots.
The shooting sent dozens of terrified children and parents scurrying.
“Everybody was having such a blast, and then we heard the gunshots and it was scary as hell,” said Charles Walkerson, a 37-year-old father whose son, Jonathan, had been celebrating his 10th birthday with friends at Sky Zone Saturday night. “Everybody just started screaming and running.”
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski tweeted Sunday:
This incident of gun violence is shocking, horrifying, and simply has no place in our community. We are thankful that no children were injured in this shameful act of cowardice. I thank the @BaltCoPolice for their swift response and for quickly detaining a suspect in this case. https://t.co/2YVCtrqQiB
— County Executive Johnny Olszewski (@BaltCoExec) August 13, 2023
![[photo, John A. Olszewski, Jr., County Executive, Baltimore County]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y-3j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9a483d1b-68b7-455f-bbcb-b0cf9045098a_180x250.jpeg "[photo, John A. Olszewski, Jr., County Executive, Baltimore County]")
No children were injured, police said, and all children have been reunited with their families.
“This is not something that usually happens here,” Detective Shelton told reporters Saturday night, calling the shooting an “isolated incident and reassuring residents that there’s no remaining danger to the community.
“Everybody was having such a blast, and then we heard the gunshots and it was scary as hell. Everybody just started screaming and running.” — Charles Walkerson, who had been celebrating his son’s 10th birthday at Sky Zone when the shooting occurred
Walker had fled the building after the shooting, but police caught up with him at an undisclosed location and charged him after questioning him, Detective Shelton said Sunday.
Sky Zone, a national chain, has built a reputation for providing safe family fun, attracting more than 40 million visitors a year to its locations for birthdays and other celebrations, most of them for children.
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Gary Gately, the founder and editor of The Baltimore Observer, is an award-winning Baltimore journalist who has written thousands of articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Baltimore Sun (11 years in reporting and editing jobs), The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Newsweek, BusinessWeek.com, The Associated Press, United Press International, Healthline Media, CNBC.com, CBSNews.com, Youth Today, The Center for Public Integrity, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Baltimore Style Magazine, National Catholic Reporter and America: The Jesuit Review. Gately’s 15 journalism awards include the highest honors from The Associated Press (a Mark Twain Public Service Award) and The Society of American Travel Writers (Lowell Thomas Award: Best Newspaper Travel Article – U.S./Canada). He also served as a 2015 John Jay College of Criminal Justice Juvenile Justice Reporting Fellow.
If you spot any errors, want to share news tips, pitch story ideas or submit a first-person piece, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks again for reading. — Gary Gately, Editor, The Baltimore Observer, garymichaelgately@gmail.com, 410-382-4364.