Sexually Abusive Priest Shot in Baltimore
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in the United States, news of a priest who was removed from his parish several years ago over a sexual relationship with a teenage boy -- this priest was shot and wounded last night outside his home in Baltimore. We get the latest now from Dennis Edwards. He's with our CNN affiliate WJZ.</s>DENNIS EDWARDS, REPORTER, WJZ (voice-over): Father Maurice Blackwell was getting out of his SUV in front of this home on the 700 block of Reservoir Street, when witnesses, who don't want their faces on camera, say a man he knew drove up in a compact car.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The person that got shot was standing in front of his car like he was going to get in his car. And they exchanged words, and the next thing you know, he pulled out his gun and he shot him.</s>EDWARDS (on camera): Father Blackwell's family is visiting from out of town. They tell Eyewitness News they saw him talking to am an inside a vehicle. The conversation appeared to be jovial, they say, until shots rang out. The next thing they knew, he was lying on the ground.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looked over and saw Father Blackwell laying down in back of his Tracker. And, like I said, when we saw it was Father Blackwell it completely freaked us out.</s>EDWARDS (voice-over): Investigators say Blackwell was wounded in the wrist and around the kidney area. He was rushed to shock trauma. Witnesses say the suspect may have attended Blackwell's former church.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He used to go over to the church. There was a recreation center over there or something, and he was telling him that he was selling drugs to -- selling poison to our people and stuff like that. So that was something that happened a long time ago.</s>EDWARDS: Father Blackwell is the former pastor of St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church. In the mid 1990s, he was suspended and eventually reinstated, after a male parishioner accused him of inappropriately touching him. The charges were later dropped, when the allegation was not substantiated. Blackwell's family says he left St. Edwards and now works with a drug counseling program in Washington D.C. called One Church, One Addict.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't see why anybody would want to shoot Father Blackwell. I really, really, really can't.</s>KAGAN: And that report was filed by Dennis Edwards. He is with our CNN affiliate WJZ. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com