Police: Berks County man slain at Comfort Inn in Maryland
Baltimore County police have identified and charged a Maryland man with homicide in connection with the killing of a Berks County man at a hotel in Towson on Thursday.
Deonte James Griffin, 26, of Randallstown, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and use of a firearm to commit a crime of violence in relation to the death of Jeremiah David Koch, 30, of Lenhartsville, at a Comfort Inn in Towson, police said.
He is being held at the Baltimore County Department of Corrections.
At about 2:26 a.m. Thursday, police officers responded to the 8800 block of Loch Raven Boulevard in Towson after reports of a man with a gun. Officers said they found Koch dead in one of the hotel rooms.
Koch had trauma to his upper body, with police presuming it was a gunshot wound. Officials said they are awaiting autopsy results.
County police reported Griffin’s arrest Thursday but waited until formal charges to release his name.
A pickup truck was towed from the hotel parking lot to police headquarters to be processed for any potential evidence, Baltimore County police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Peach said. It’s unclear who owns the vehicle and how it may be related to the case.
Hotel employee Muhsina Lalani said she was finishing up the hotel’s nightly money audit when she noticed a patron running through the stairwell who alerted her to the incident.
The 26-year-old has been living and working at the hotel for a month and a half. She started her shift at 11 p.m. Wednesday and was by herself when the incident happened.
The man, whose connection to the incident wasn’t clear, burst into the Comfort Inn’s lobby yelling “Call 911, call 911,” Lalani said. “I had no idea at the time I was making a call for someone who had died,” Lalani said.