It was Independence Day 2004 and Larry Baskin had been out of prison for only one day when he was gunned down during a noon downpour in Northeast Washington.
District homicide detectives have run out of leads in the slaying of the 47-year-old Baskin. He is one of the District’s more than 4,000 cold cases.
Baskin had been released from a prison in Allenwood, Pa., where he served six months for violating his parole on drug dealing charges.
He was supposed to report to a shelter in Washington, but he went back to his old neighborhood instead, police said.
One witness said a man approached a group standing under an awning in front of a closed-up barbershop at Rhode Island Avenue and Fourth Street NE.
Two shots rang out. Baskin fell to the sidewalk, and the gunman ßed in a Ford Explorer.
The shooter was described as an older black man, with a balding head, about 5-feet-7 and 140 pounds.
Police are hoping someone who knows something about the shooting will have a change of heart and come forward with information that can solve Baskin’s slaying.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 202-645-6358 or the Metropolitan Police Department’s Synchronized Operation Command Center at 202-727-9099.
