Police are seeking two men in the fatal shooting of a man in front of his West Baltimore home early this morning, the first to break a lull in violent crime that lasted little more than a week.

The shooting occurred about 2:15 a.m. in the 1700 block of West Baltimore, said police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe. Two gunmen approached Samuel Epps, 30, and opened fire. Epps fled, and the two men chased him until he collapsed on a sidewalk from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma, where he was pronounced dead at 2:48 a.m.

Monroe said Epps had a lengthy criminal record, including several arrests for drug violations. At the time of the shooting, he was on probation until August 2008.

The shooting was the 180th homicide of the year, and the first after a period of calm that had lasted about a week. The last fatal shooting in the city occurred on July 19.

sgentile@baltimoreexaminer.com