Baltimore Family Mourns Mother Killed While Helping Panhandler

ABC

Relatives of a Maryland woman who was knifed to death on December 1st while giving money to a panhandler say she died the way she lived every day: looking out for others while being kind. According to the family, 52-year-old Jacquelyn Smith, an electrical engineer from Mayland’s Harford County, was trying to help a woman who appeared to be holding a swaddled infant, and had a cardboard sign reading: “Please help me feed my baby.”

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In an effort to help the “mother” any way she could, Smith lowered her car’s front passenger seat side window to give her $10. Out of the nowhere, a man approached the car window with the woman before the cash handoff. After a struggle over Smith’s wallet, both individuals quickly fled on foot, but not before stabbing Smith in the upper torso.

Baltimore Family Mourn Mother Killed While Helping Panhandler
ABC

At the time of the incident, Smith was in the car with her husband and stepdaughter, when she was fatally stabbed. Her husband Keith Smith recalled the incident, saying he attempted to follow the couple on foot, but ran back to the car when he heard his wife yelling and crying.

“It was drizzling, it was cold, wet and my wife, like any normal person, felt sorry for the baby, which turned out not to even be a baby. It must have been like a stuffed animal or something wrapped in a blanket. From where we were, it looked like a baby and we thought it was a baby. As she was handing her the money, the guy came to say ‘Thank you,’ and the woman was saying ‘God bless you. God bless you. While we’re looking at her saying ‘God bless you’ and my wife was handing her the money, he came over to the car and said ‘Thank you’ and then he started stabbing my wife and snatched her necklace off and ran.”

The family immediately took Smith to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where, unfortunately, due to the severity of the stab wound to her chest, was pronounced dead. Smith and her husband were married for nearly five years, and together have six children and three grandchildren. David Hood, Smith’s 19-year-old son described his mother as a compassionate, strong-willed woman, who made sure to teach her children the importance of family and generosity.

Baltimore Family Mourn Mother Killed While Helping Panhandler
ABC

There has been no arrest in the murder as of yet, but Baltimore Police Department has been keeping an eye out on the East Baltimore intersection and have been handing out flyers and canvass residents. Investigators believe the woman responsible for the incident is in her early 20’s and the man was described as black, around the age of 30, standing at 6 feet tall with a goatee.

Mayor Catherine Pugh described Smith’s slaying as a terrible tragedy, reassuring the city was deploying all available resources within their police department to find and bring justice to the family. She is urging all city residents to be cautious and on the lookout for descriptions of the suspects.

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