Man handed double-life sentence for 2023 shooting spree that killed one and injured three

A man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for murder and attempted murder after detectives tracked a stolen car with GPS.

Jared Ford, 23, of Baltimore, was sentenced for a string of shootings in February and March 2023 that killed 21-year-old Mason Kelly and injured three others.

He was convicted by a jury in July of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and gun charges, according to court documents. In total, Ford was sentenced to a pair of life sentences plus 190 years.

A Baltimore Police officer in an unmarked vehicle in the 5500 block of Bowleys Lane in Northeast Baltimore's Frankford neighborhood in February 2023 heard gunshots around 5:50 p.m. and found Kelly unresponsive in a nearby apartment building, according to a news release from the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. He was declared dead at the scene around 6:10 p.m., and two additional nonfatal victims were taken by medics to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital.

Surveillance cameras captured four suspects firing shots and fleeing in two stolen vehicles that police were able to identify, according to the release. Detectives found one of the cars, a Toyota Highlander, parked and unoccupied, and placed a GPS tracking device on the car, according to the release.

On March 2, 2023, the GPS tracked the vehicle to the scene of a nonfatal shooting in the Biddle Street neighborhood. Surveillance cameras also captured the vehicle at the scene of the shooting, according to the release.

Baltimore City Homicides

Again on March 4, 2023, the GPS tracked the vehicle moving, and officers, including a police helicopter, followed the Highlander under a railroad bridge between the Biddle Street and Madison-Eastend neighborhoods, according to the release. A Nissan sedan then sped away from the bridge, and a mile away a driver, Ford and another passenger fled on foot. Ford and the other passenger were arrested while the driver evaded arrest. Police found guns in the cars that matched the shell casings from the previous shootings.

"This lengthy sentence refutes that mindset and makes it abundantly clear that there are severe and life-altering penalties for killing, assaulting, and inflicting immense trauma," State's Attorney Ivan Bates said in the release. "It is my hope that the victims in this case feel safer knowing Jared Ford will never be free to conduct himself among law-abiding residents ever again."