Man shot, killed at party in Joppa fire hall

Harford County (Map, News) - Harford County had its third homicide this year when an Edgewood man was shot and killed at a dance party in Joppa.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived around 11:45 p.m. Sunday at the Joppa-Magnolia Fire Department banquet hall on Mountain Road for reports of a man shot.

Tariq S. Alston, 22, was found with a gunshot wound and pronounced dead around 12:30 a.m. at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Monica Worrell.

She said officials at the fire hall were told the event was a birthday party, but a company called “Fast Lane Entertainment” advertised the party on MySpace.com as “Keep it Live 2008,” with a bar, a DJ, several live music performances and a cover charge.

Calls to the number listed for the host, “Rome,” went unanswered.

Only about 50 to 60 people attended, said Harford fire and emergency medical services spokesman Dave Williams.

The fire department usually keeps a “liaison” on-site to open and close the building, but that person was not in the hall when the shooting took place, Williams said.

“We usually allow them some privacy during their event,” he said. “We don’t generally spend the evening sitting in.”

The county liquor control board required notice of the party but not a detailed application, since the fire hall carries a special liquor license, said board administrator Kathryn Thess.

The board has warned fire halls and other venues about event promoters renting space but misrepresenting the events as birthday parties, she said.

Mildred Samy, an anti-violence advocate in Edgewood, said Alston had been close friends with her son, Samuel Horne, before Horne was shot and killed in August 2007.

Two weeks ago, Alston signed up for a program she was arranging to help ex-offenders find well-paying jobs, Samy said.

Court records show he had one conviction for drug possession from 2006, for which he served two months in jail.

“No one could imagine anybody getting that angry at him for anything,” Samy said.

Roads surrounding the fire hall were closed off after the shooting, and investigators interviewed about 30 attendees at the party.

Police are not yet naming a motive or any suspects.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com

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