Friends mourn Henri Jones, 23, killed near Patterson Park

BALTIMORE -- Tributes are pouring in for Henri Jones, with friends remembering the 23-year-old as fun-loving and positive.

He was shot in the head at close range after leaving a gathering of friends early Thanksgiving morning in the 100 block of North Lakewood Avenue, which is just one block from Patterson Park. 

WJZ reporter Mike Hellgren spoke to Dani who asked us not to show her face or give her last name for safety reasons. She said Jones had been enjoying a night with her son and some former classmates. It was getting late—around 3 a.m.—so he walked to his truck.

"They were talking, and he was like, 'Ok, I'm going to go ahead and head out,'" Dani said. "He was supposed to be on his way to my son's house for Thanksgiving dinner that day and left and was walking to his car to go home before he went to my son's, and a car pulled up and shot him in the back of the head."

Surveillance video shows a dark-colored SUV fleeing the scene as Jones clung to life. 

"Most of his brain function was gone," Dani said. "He had a little part of his bottom stem of his brain that was allowing him to cough."

A neighbor who asked that her name not be used for safety reasons told WJZ the gunshots jolted her awake. 

"It really was an eerie sight because his car was parked right outside of our house, and I saw him lying on the ground," the neighbor said. "Every time I walk out of my door, all I can think of is where he was shot. They shouted, 'Oh, s**t!' and kind of got in their car and sped off, and you could literally hear the tires squealing away down the street."

Jones is the godfather of Dani's granddaughter. He once attended Towson University and had a fiancé, she said.

"His whole family, his future wife, I mean, everybody's just devastated, my kids, like all his friends," she said. 

Dani said that Jones did not appear to have any problems with anybody. 

"He just was a really good kid all the way around, and it's just hard when you see these things happen to these innocent people," she said.

The Baltimore police online crime map showed that there had been a carjacking just four blocks away from the shooting site about two weeks prior, but police have not released a motive in Jones' killing.

An online fundraiser has raised more than 16,000 and requests that people donate to anti-gun violence charities in Jones' name. Loved ones hope for justice in his case. 

"At the end of the day, Baltimore is just getting out of control with the violence, the gun violence," Dani said. "These guns are just so out of control in Baltimore City. It's just like, dude, people don't come back from that. People don't come back from bullets."

As of Tuesday morning, 308 people had been killed in Baltimore this year, the same as at this time last year. 

In comparison, 650 people have been shot and survived compared to 654 at this time in 2021.

On Monday alone, seven people were shot in Baltimore. Two of them died.

If you know anything about Henri Jones' homicide, call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-Lockup. You can remain anonymous. 

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• Baltimore
• Crime