A Black Guerrilla Family gang member was sentenced Wednesday to more than 21 years in federal prison for committing multiple acts of violence in Baltimore, including murdering a woman who had been pushing her 1-year-old daughter in a stroller.
U.S. Senior District Judge James K. Bredar said Barak Olds was directly involved in “three cold-blooded efforts to kill other human beings” — including the deadly shooting of Yasmine Wilson, which happened on July 3, 2019, on North Rose Street near Orleans Street in McElderry Park. She was 20.
Bredar described the murder as “the definition of cold.”
At the same time, Bredar noted, he felt Olds largely conducted himself by the examples that had been set for him.
“This defendant, particularly as a young man, saw his life absolutely pickled in violence — marinated in violence,” Bredar said. “The circumstances of this defendant’s upbringing and early life draw a straight line.”
Later, Bredar sentenced Olds to serve 262 months in prison, plus five years’ supervised release.
Olds, 35, of Baltimore, is the last of six men to be sentenced in a sweeping racketeering conspiracy case.
They include Davante Harrison, a rapper whose stage name was YGG Tay, and David Warren, a BGF hitman involved in the killings of three people.
Wilson was born and raised in Baltimore and completed the STRIVE program at the Center for Urban Families, where she earned a certificate of completion in career development, according to her obituary. Loved ones affectionally called her “Yazzy.”
She was feisty and no-nonsense, her obituary states, and she enjoyed rapping and making people laugh.
Her mother, Saundra Waddell, told the judge she never thought she would be writing a victim impact statement in a million years.
Waddell said she’s raising her granddaughter, Char’leigh, while grappling with grief.
“I’ll never get it,” Waddell said. “I hope he gets his justice.”
Federal prosecutors reported that Olds admitted he killed Wilson because she was selling drugs without obtaining permission from the gang.
“I would like to apologize,” Olds said. “I take full responsibility.”
The BGF ravaged the streets of Baltimore and prisons across Maryland, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Evans said.
Evans said there was no justification for the killing, which he described as a savage act that led to an incalculable loss.
“She had her whole life ahead of her,” Evans said. “Her child now has no mother.”
Paul Hazlehurst, Olds’ attorney, agreed and expressed his condolences. He said his client wishes he could go back in time.
Hazlehurst explained that Olds endured what he described as an incredibly turbulent upbringing, which made him particularly susceptible to joining a gang.
Olds held a gun for the first time when he was 8. When he was 9, he witnessed a shooting. During his youth, he also saw four killings, Hazlehurst said.
Later, Olds, he said, started to use drugs including MDMA, or ecstasy.
But when Olds was incarcerated to await trial, something happened: He blossomed, Hazlehurst said.
He said his client engaged in drug treatment and enrolled in GED classes.
For the first time, Olds was living in a peaceful environment.
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