A Baltimore man has taken a plea deal in a deadly shooting inside a downtown senior living complex, closing a case that rattled Pleasant View Gardens residents and briefly locked down nearby schools.
On Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, the defendant admitted to second‑degree murder, attempted second‑degree murder, and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence in connection with the February 20, 2025, attack inside the senior building. The judge accepted a plea that included a 60‑year prison term with 35 years suspended. The shooting at Pleasant View Gardens triggered a tactical sweep of the complex and sent nearby schools into restricted movement while officers worked to secure the scene.
According to The Baltimore Banner, Circuit Judge Jeannie J. Hong sentenced 67‑year‑old Norman Waker to 60 years in prison with 35 years suspended and five years of supervised probation. That leaves him facing roughly 25 years behind bars and ineligible for parole for the first 10 years. In court, Waker apologized and told the judge, "I'm not a bad person," while a victim advocate read a statement from the daughter of 79‑year‑old Clyde Barnes, Zelda Johnson, who said, "My father's life was taken before his time."
Scene and response
Police say the shooting happened around 11:07 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2025, inside Pleasant View Gardens in the 100 block of North Central Avenue, where officers found Barnes dead and 73‑year‑old Vance Winston Bey wounded, according to WBAL‑TV. Tactical units swept the senior complex, and nearby Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and the National Academy Foundation went on restricted movement while officers cleared the building.
How the case reached a plea
The case went to trial in October 2025, but after about five and a half hours of deliberation, jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, which led the judge to declare a mistrial. During that trial, Waker testified that a dispute over cigarettes spiraled into a struggle over a gun. Prosecutors countered with surveillance footage and witness testimony that they said undercut his version of events. For local coverage of the jury deadlock, reporters noted how the hung panel set the stage for renewed plea talks.
Defendant's background
Court records show Waker has a 1983 conviction for second‑degree murder and related handgun charges, and his lawyer told the court he is in poor health. Doctors have amputated his left leg after an infection, and his attorney said he suffers from cirrhosis and takes several medications, as reported by The Baltimore Banner.
Neighborhood context
Pleasant View Gardens has factored into multiple prosecutions and investigations in recent years, including a separate "ghost‑gun" shooting that prosecutors say was clarified by CCTV footage, according to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. The cluster of violent incidents at the complex has kept it under close watch from law enforcement and community advocates, who argue that concentrated violence and thin resources create especially steep risks for low‑income seniors.
The plea wraps up a case that shook residents and briefly stalled school life nearby, while also underscoring the hard choices prosecutors face after a deadlocked jury. Family members and advocates say the sentence cannot repair the loss, and prosecutors described the agreement as a way to secure accountability in a case where a retrial could easily have ended in the same uncertain place.
