-- by Jessica Anderson and Childs Walker, The Baltimore Sun:

After a man was beaten to death early Saturday morning in what police call a hate crime— the latest in a string of attacks against Hispanics in the area — officers and neighborhood volunteers walked door-to-door to promote a dialogue with police and the Spanish-speaking community.

Saturday night, police had made an arrest in the overnight killing in the 200 block of N. Kenwood Ave. Officers were called at about 2:15 a.m. for an assault and found 51-year-old Martin Reyez suffering from severe head and facial trauma after he was beaten with a piece of wood. Reyez, of the 400 block of N. Kenwood Ave., was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jermaine Holley, 19, of the 3600 block of Erdman Ave. was charged with first-degree murder after police said he confessed, and that the motive was not robbery, as witnesses had earlier told police. Instead, police classified the homicide as a hate crime because Holley indicated in his statement to police that he "hated Hispanics," said department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

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