Mother Seeks Answers After Son Killed Near Lansdowne High

Tyler Tunstalle was a 21 year old with plans to travel and build a future when he was shot and killed in May while stopped on the side of Hollins Ferry Road near Lansdowne High School. The family says he pulled his black SUV to the curb, turned on his flashers and had the passenger side window rolled down when four bullets pierced the rolled up driver side window and three struck him.

His mother, Tina Tunstalle, rushed to the scene after tracking his phone and finding him there. She said she knew something was wrong immediately when the shooting happened. "The holy spirit told me my son was in trouble," she said. Tina says police and emergency medical crews were on site, but officers would not allow her to approach her son. She also says investigators denied the family's request to review police body camera footage from the scene.

Frustrated by what she describes as slow progress and limited transparency, the family hired a private detective. The investigator compiled diagrams, notes and phone and text records and argued that the scene and nearby cameras should have produced leads. The family recovered a bullet slug from the returned vehicle and had it analyzed, and the detective described the slug as a 9 millimeter round. Requests by the family for the autopsy report and other records have been denied, and Tina says she fears evidence may not have been fully searched.

Baltimore County police said the investigation is ongoing and urged anyone with information to contact investigators. The case highlights broader tensions for city and county residents between investigative confidentiality and public accountability. Denials of body camera and autopsy access in active cases can erode community trust, particularly in neighborhoods that already contend with high violent crime and limited institutional trust.

For Baltimore City and County policymakers, the Tunstalle case raises questions about transparency rules, oversight of investigations and the resources available to pursue leads in shootings. Civic engagement around public records practices and police oversight may shape local debates and elections as residents ask elected officials to clarify when families can see records and how investigators preserve evidence. For now the family seeks answers and says it wants justice while continuing to pursue leads through private and public channels.