A Virginia man was found dead Tuesday in the backyard of a home in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Thomas Baldwin of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was fatally shot, police said in an update Wednesday. He was 29.
A Greenbelt, Maryland, police officer discovered Baldwin's body in the backyard of the officer's mother's home when he went to visit her Tuesday morning, a police spokesman said.
Mabel Keys said she was shocked when her son woke her up saying there was a body in her backyard.
“When I got up, the man was in the yard, and I didn't know if he was dead or alive, how he got back there or anything,” she said.
Greenbelt police confirmed Keys’ son worked a night shift before the body was discovered.
Baldwin had a gunshot wound, police said Wednesday. Officers responded about 7:15 a.m., and he was pronounced dead. A homicide investigation is underway, Prince George's County police said.
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“Once officers arrived on the scene, they did locate the body of an adult male who was suffering from apparent trauma to the upper body,” said Calvin Tyson of Prince George’s County police. “He was pronounced dead on the scene, and our investigators are treating this as a homicide scene.”
No information on a suspect was released.
Police are investigating whether there are any surveillance cameras in the area that can provide clues.
Several neighbors said they heard one or two gunshots between midnight and 1 a.m. but did not call police because they weren't sure what it meant until the discovery in the morning.
Keys says she didn't know the victim, and refused to look at him, for her own piece of mind.
“I wasn't trying to look out there because I didn't really want to see that, because I didn't know what I was going to be seeing, and I really just didn't want that in my head as I get up every morning,” she said.
The discovery of the man's body filled the normally quiet neighborhood with officers, neighbor Earlan Romano said.
"I get up this morning, and all I see was police cars and yellow tape," he said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police. A reward of as much as $25,000 is offered.
