Baltimore man accused of killing ex-wife, ex-girlfriend in double murder-suicide
Rajaee Shareef Black went live on Facebook outside the apartment of his former wife; his video got cut off after she opened her door.
Police in Baltimore are saying that a man apparently killed his ex-girlfriend, then his ex-wife before taking his own life.
The suspect, who has been identified as Rajaee Shareef Black, 44, reportedly went live on Facebook outside the apartment of the latter victim, saying that he was having custody issues with both women.
“Anyway, I just did something crazy, man. I just shot my ex-girlfriend in the head,” he says, according to The Baltimore Sun. “Felt like a dream. I never thought I would be that guy. I can’t go to prison, so the person that really started my depression and all of this is my ex-wife. So, she next. Then I’m going to do myself too.”
As he makes the statement, his former wife, Wendy Natalie Black, 42, opens the door. He says, “Oh, there’s my ex-wife right now,” and the video suddenly ends.
In the harrowing report, a neighbor at another location said her Ring security camera registered six shots Saturday at 1:30 p.m. near her Federal Hill home. Inside the residence, a deceased 41-year-old woman, identified as Tara Labang, was found.
Investigators then learned about the social media post, and officers were dispatched to a second location in Columbia, in Howard County, where the assailant and his ex-spouse were both found dead about 45 minutes later.
After arriving in Columbia, police discovered the former couple’s two young children — whose names, ages and gender were not released — unharmed in their father’s gray BMW parked in the building’s lot. The children did not witness their parents’ shooting, authorities said, and are reportedly in a “safe environment.”
There were reportedly several accusations of domestic violence in the Blacks’ relationship, and they had been embroiled in a custody battle since 2018. According to The Sun, “there have been filings nearly every month throughout the past three years, with the most recent one being filed Tuesday.”
Both Blacks were certified nurse anesthetists at local hospitals. In January, Rajaee Black filed a federal lawsuit against University of Maryland Medical System. He claimed he’d been wrongfully fired in April 2020 after he exposed a doctor allegedly stashing drugs in his locker. His colleagues refused to work with him, the suit said.
Labang was also a health care worker.
“This is a terrible, terrible tragedy,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters near the city crime scene. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of these victims.”
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident surrounding the death of a team member, who cared for patients in our hospital under a contract with a medical provider,” Capital Region Health spokeswoman Jania Matthews wrote in an email. “We extend heartfelt condolences to the family and are offering grief counseling to her colleagues.”
“We’re talking about a neighborhood that’s a bustling neighborhood, a great neighborhood, but it is shaken now because one of their neighbors has been taken from them, taken from the community, simply because someone doesn’t know how to move on,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. “That’s something that we should no longer accept on our streets.”
As of November of this year, more than 300 people have been murdered in Baltimore.
“I just wish it would stop,” said one city resident. “The only thing I can do is keep praying to God.”
If you or anyone you know is considering self-harm, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-8255 right now.
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