Tributes Held For Woman Killed By Panhandler In East Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD — A vigil called for an end to violence in Baltimore Thursday night after the death of Jacquelyn Smith. Police said the 54-year-old Aberdeen resident was killed on Saturday, Dec. 1, giving to a panhandler on Valley Street.

Officials said Smith saw a panhandler holding what looked like a baby and a sign that said: "Please help me feed my baby."

After she rolled down her window in the 1000 block of Valley Street, police said a man approached the vehicle appearing to thank Smith and instead reached inside and tried to grab her wallet.

They struggled, and the man stabbed Smith in the torso with a knife, police allege. She died at the hospital.

A vigil was held for Smith on Thursday, Dec. 6, within blocks of the crime scene, outside Sweet Prospect Baptist Church in the 900 block of East Eager Street.

Residents and police held candles and condemned the violent slaying of the good Samaritan at the event, according to Fox 45, which interviewed one resident who said: "That could have been my mother, my sister...for somebody to take her life because she's doing something decent, I felt nothing but anger."

Neighbors lighting each other’s candles at a vigil for Jacquelyn Smith who was killed Saturday night after giving money to a panhandler. These ladies have lived in the area for years and say the violence must stop. @WMAR2News pic.twitter.com/imNmnGI3Kv
— Nadia Singh (@NadiaSinghNews) December 6, 2018

Everyone pausing for 5 minutes of silent prayer in memory of Jacquelyn Smith #WBAL pic.twitter.com/dzdQdialbf
— Vanessa Herring (@VanessaWBAL) December 6, 2018

Smith, an electrical engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, was a hard worker known for having a "heart of gold," friends told WJZ.

Her mother described her as "determined" and said after growing up in Rhode Island, she earned her degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and worked for a Navy research center in Newport before moving to Maryland, the Providence Journal reported.

She loved poetry, leaves behind two adult sons and was "the best mother there ever was," her mother, Anna Trisvane, 88, told the CBS affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island.

A memorial service for Jacquelyn Smith will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 7, at Helping Hands Ministries, 3237 Level Rd, Churchville.

There will also be a memorial for her on Saturday, Dec. 15, in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is from and where she will be laid to rest, according to the Providence Journal.

SEE ALSO:

• Harford Woman Killed Giving Money To Woman With 'Baby'
• Aberdeen Woman Fatally Stabbed Was Engineer At APG: Report
• Oprah On Homicide By Panhandler: 'This Story Struck My Heart'
• Panhandling Under Scrutiny After Baltimore Homicide

Photo of Jacquelyn Smith courtesy of the Baltimore Police Department.