A Baltimore man is accused by police of shooting and killing a billionaire philanthropist at a nursing home while disguised on Valentine’s Day, then firing at a Maryland state trooper during a traffic stop.
Morkies Emiro James, 22, who goes by “Markazi,” has been charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14 killing of 87-year-old Robert Fuller Jr., according to police charging documents.
James is also charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with serious bodily injury, use of a firearm in a crime of violence and related charges for allegedly firing at a police officer who did not seriously injure him on Tuesday, according to documents.
What investigators don’t have is a motive.
Fuller lived at Coghill Senior Living Center in Potomac, Maryland, where James worked as a medical technician on the night shift, according to documents.
“We don’t really know why he shot Mr. Fuller,” Montgomery County Police Lt. Sean Gegen said at a news conference Wednesday. “I spoke to him and he said their relationship was very good and he would never hurt Mr. Fuller.”
However, police said that when they searched the suspect’s home, they found several wigs and a mask.
James was being held Thursday at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, according to jail records.
Fuller, a former Naval Reserve officer who donated millions of dollars to support numerous institutions in Augusta, Maine, and previously worked as an attorney, was found shot in the head in an apartment at the facility that he shared with his partner, according to court documents.
During questioning, the partner told detectives that James gave Fuller a regular dose of the painkiller oxycodone on the night of February 13th.
But James, whose partner is not identified in the complaint, said he later returned and asked Fuller if the medication was “still working.”
The partner told detectives it was “very strange” because James usually doesn’t come back after giving Fuller drugs.
When Fuller’s partner was informed that he had been shot, he expressed surprise that the gunshots did not wake him up because “his hearing is excellent,” the complaint states.
James admitted drugging Fuller and continuing to work at the facility while detectives investigated Fuller’s murder.
Later that day, detectives obtained surveillance footage from around 5 a.m. that showed a person wearing a mask, what appeared to be a wig, and a “unique” plaid jacket walking toward the building’s rarely used side entrance.
The person was seen opening the door and entering the stairs.
About 12 minutes later, the same person was seen exiting the door and “running down the sidewalk,” according to the indictment.
Detectives later discovered the door had been propped open with folded paper towels and the batteries had been removed from the sensor that set off the alarm.
The indictment also says Fuller’s killers “had access to the building,” leading them to suspect the murder may have been an inside job.
Last week, on February 20, police released a short clip of surveillance footage and a press release noting the suspect’s “unusual gait” and jacket.
The vise surrounding James began to tighten Sunday after an unidentified tipster told police the person seen in the video had a familiar gait and might work at the facility, according to the indictment.
Then, on Monday night, a Coghill supervisor noticed that James remained at the facility long after his shift ended and asked him why he was still there.
“James then quickly grabbed his belongings and left,” the indictment states. At 3 a.m. Tuesday, a state trooper pulled over a “silver Infiniti sedan with no tags.”
As officers began to approach the vehicle, the driver “fired at the officers” and took off. The officer did not fight back.
Police arrested James on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly firing at officers in Rockville, Maryland, Gagen said. He was later charged with Fuller’s murder after matching the shell casing from the officer’s shot to the gun used to kill the elderly man.
