The second murder trial of a man convicted of murder in 2022 begins

A 20-year-old man previously convicted of murder will stand trial this week accused of shooting another person in Anne Arundel County.

In June 2023, Jaden Kemetrius Crowner was sentenced to life in prison for the death of Devin Freeman, a 19-year-old who was shot behind a funeral home in Brooklyn Park.

Crowner, a Brooklyn resident, entered charges of first-degree murder and a firearms offense in Alford, admitted the evidence collected against him and was convicted.

Now, in a separate case, he is the sole defendant in the 2020 killing of Walters Elangwe, a Cameroonian immigrant who was shot through the windshield of his car in Annapolis.

Elangwe, 29, was described by family members as an entrepreneur working towards his “ultimate goal” of opening his own business. Outside of his day job, Elangwe traded smartphones for extra money.

For this reason, Elangwe came to Annapolis on July 11, 2020.

According to police and prosecutors, Elangwe had been negotiating to purchase an iPhone outside a residence in the 1100 block of Primrose Court. In the parking lot, someone approached his car while a second person stood nearby.

A neighbor who went out to get groceries testified Tuesday that while he “noticed” a conversation at Elangwe’s car, it was “not a heated argument.”

However, he soon saw the person closest to the car pull out a handgun and fire several shots into the car, making the windshield look “like a piece of Swiss cheese,” Assistant District Attorney Brian Pritchard said.

“When someone fires their gun nine times, they have decided to kill someone,” Pritchard said in his opening statements.