Probationer charged in north Baltimore killing, court records reveal prior drug case

Taiwan Gray was on probation when Baltimore police say he fatally shot Mark Nash on West Old Cold Spring Lane, a detail that puts the city’s supervision system under the microscope after another north Baltimore killing.

Police said officers responded to the 2800 block of West Cold Spring Lane at about 11:39 p.m. on April 23, 2026, after a shooting call. Nash was 56. Court-watch reporting says charging documents describe Gray shooting Nash once in the chest and stealing his scooter, adding an alleged theft component to the homicide case.

Detectives arrested Gray, 29, without incident on April 29 in the 2600 block of Wilkens Avenue. He was taken to the Central Booking Intake Facility and charged with first-degree murder. A judge denied bond at his first court appearance Friday, keeping him in custody as the case moves toward a preliminary hearing later this month.

The most consequential detail in the case comes from Gray’s prior record. Court documents reviewed in the case show he was on probation for a 2021 felony drug conviction when Nash was killed. In that earlier case, police found cocaine, heroin and a handgun in Gray’s vehicle after a traffic stop, and the records say Gray told officers he sold drugs. He later received a five-year sentence, most of which was suspended.

That suspended sentence is now central to the broader public-safety question raised by the case: if Gray had served the full term, he may have still been in custody when Nash was killed. The record also raises familiar concerns about whether probation conditions were strong enough, whether Gray had any prior violations, and whether warning signs were missed before the shooting.

The arrest relied on video footage and cell-phone data, underscoring how quickly digital evidence has become central in Baltimore homicide cases. It also arrives as city officials say April 2026 had the fewest homicides in a single month since at least 1970. Through May 1, Mayor Brandon M. Scott said Baltimore had recorded 33 homicides and 89 nonfatal shootings.

For north Baltimore, the case is another reminder that a street homicide can carry a long paper trail, one that runs from a drug case and a suspended sentence to a fatal shot in a familiar corridor near Cold Spring Lane.