The residents of a peaceful hamlet in Owings Mills are struggling to come to terms with an alleged murder-suicide that occurred on Tuesday afternoon and resulted in the deaths of a married couple.
Around four o’clock in the afternoon, officers from Baltimore County were dispatched to a residence on Avery Hill Drive in the Worthington Park neighborhood in response to a report of an assault. When the police came, they discovered Gary Franklin, 63 years old, and Karen Franklin, 59 years old, both already deceased with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
According to the police, one of the victims had shot himself at the time of their death. “It is very shocking to have something like this happen in our neighborhood,” said Erin Knapp, a neighbor who lives nearby.
According to Knapp, she spotted perhaps a dozen police cars. There was a lot of activity on the social media page for Worthington Park, according to Dan Katz, another neighbor who spoke with WJZ.
Katz remarked, “It’s just terrible, it’s not even comical.”
Katz stated that he did not have a strong familiarity with the couple, but he is devastated for their family.
“You don’t know what is going through people’s heads, but it’s just very sad for the children, and just a horrible situation,” Katz explained to reporters.
According to the Baltimore County Police Department, detectives are still attempting to assemble the pieces of the puzzle that led to the tragedy.
Baltimore County’s Criminal Activity
Between the beginning of this year and the end of March, there have been eleven homicides in Baltimore County, as indicated by the Crime Data of the Baltimore County Police Department.
The overall rate of criminal activity in Baltimore County has been decreasing. There were a total of 61,154 criminal acts that were reported committed within the county in the year 2023. As per the data provided by the Baltimore County Police Department, there were 58,561 criminal acts that were reported in the year 2024.
Between January 2024 and January 2025, a significant number of the crimes that were reported were offenses related to theft, violence, or fraud. Within the county in the year 2024, there were a total of 665 infractions using weapons.
Married couple killed in apparent murder-suicide rattles Baltimore County community.
