Neighbors react after 77-year-old allegedly killed with meat cleaver in Roland Park
By Khiree Stewart
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WBAL) — Police are investigating after a man was killed Sunday morning in Roland Park.
Baltimore police said Patrick Cromwell, 59, stabbed and strangled his roommate, Joseph Barranco, 77, to death before calling 911. Officers responded to the apartment complex in the 900 block of West University Parkway, where they found the man suffering from life-threatening lacerations. He was declared dead at the scene.
According to charging documents, Cromwell told police he got into a fight with his roommate Sunday morning. He told police his roommate, who was unarmed at the time, attacked him first.
Cromwell allegedly picked up a meat cleaver, struck his roommate in the head and neck, then used his hands and feet to strangle him.
The documents said Cromwell called police himself and admitted to killing his roommate.
Neighbors called it a “sad situation” and still have many questions about what led to the incident.
“Anytime there’s a killing,” a neighbor said, “it’s really sad to hear.”
“If there’s family relationships, if there’s anything else, you know, money involved. If the guy had a history of mental illness,” neighbor Kathy Graning said. “It sounds like a lot of unanswered questions.”
People who live in the neighborhood said it’s usually quiet.
“It gives me the desire to be a neighbor who keeps doing my best to build a strong community where people look out for each other,” one neighbor said.
Cromwell faces first and second-degree murder charges. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 22.
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