Third Defendant Goes on Trial in Essex Shooting That Unleashed 37 Bullets in Five Seconds

The afternoon before Thanksgiving 2023, Philip Pasingda and a friend were walking along Glenwood Road in Essex when they were caught in a hail of 37 bullets fired in five seconds.

Eight bullets struck 22-year-old Pasingda. He died about half an hour later. His friend, who also was shot multiple times, survived.

Travell H. Allen, 27, of the 2600 block of South Marlyn Avenue in Essex, is on trial this week in Baltimore County Circuit Court, charged with Pasingda’s murder, the attempted murder of his companion and other offenses in the Nov. 22, 2023, shooting.

The surviving victim told police that he and Pasingda had gone to a nearby cellphone store to take advantage of an early Black Friday promotion offering free phone upgrades. They were walking back to a home to retrieve identification needed to complete the transaction when an older silver Honda with tinted windows pulled up.

The man told police from his hospital bed that two men got out of the car and began firing. The handguns had been converted to fire fully automatically, police said.

Allen is the last of three men charged in the killing to go to trial. His alleged co-conspirators, Anthony Dwight Richardson and Xavier Nettles, have already been tried and convicted and are serving life sentences.

Police built much of their case around surveillance video, cellphone records and the movements of the Honda, which belonged to Richardson.

Investigators also found social media photos and videos showing the men with guns police believe were involved in the shootings.

Allen’s attorney, Roya Hanna, told jurors that police never established a connection between her client and either shooting victim or determined a motive. She also said the jury would hear conflicting and inconclusive evidence.

“There may be a lot of smoke here, but at the end of the day, you’re going to find that there is no fire,” Hanna said. “There is nobody who is going to be able to definitively say that Travell Allen was at that scene, that he did anything.”

The state’s first witness Monday was a Baltimore County patrol officer who responded after police received a ShotSpotter alert and 911 calls from the area.

Pasingda’s parents became emotional when the prosecution played body-camera footage of officers rendering aid to their unresponsive son. His mother ran crying from the courtroom into the hallway, and his father collapsed to the courtroom floor.

Hanna asked Baltimore County Circuit Judge Garret Glennon to declare a mistrial to preserve fairness for her client.

'This is a bell that can't be unrung," she said. "The jury can't unsee this."

Glennon denied the request, calling a mistrial an “extreme remedy” that was not appropriate at that point in the trial.

“With the advent and use of body-worn cameras, things aren’t left up to the imagination and description of witnesses,” Glennon said, adding that it can be difficult for viewers to maintain their composure while watching graphic footage. He instructed jurors not to hold the display of emotion against Allen.

The surviving shooting victim also took the stand Monday, wearing a hoodie and surgical mask. He spoke quietly and did not directly answer the attorneys’ questions, instead repeatedly saying he did not know or did not remember anything about that day or the people involved.

Prosecutors then played audio of an interview he gave police from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, in which he described what happened.

He told police he saw the car pull up and two people jump out, one from the front passenger seat and another from the rear passenger seat. After being shot, he said, Pasingda went in one direction, and he went in another. Friends later put him in a car and drove him to Franklin Square Hospital.

Investigators eventually traced the Honda seen at the shooting to Richardson.

Cellphone records showed Richardson’s and Nettles’ phones traveling together from Baltimore City toward Allen’s home on South Marlyn Avenue and heading back in the opposite direction about 10 minutes later, Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Fish told jurors during opening statements.

Police allege Richardson, Nettles and Allen then traveled together to Glenwood Road, where Pasingda was killed, before returning to Baltimore City.

Police arrested Allen on Jan. 17, 2024.

Nettles and Richardson were convicted of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges in separate trials and sentenced to life in prison. Both have appealed their convictions to the Appellate Court of Maryland.

Allen has been held in the Baltimore County Detention Center since his arrest.