Over the weekend, the arrest of a 19-year-old man on a handgun charge caught my eye. His name? Omar Little.


That of course is the name of the iconic stick-up man from “The Wire,” a show that was based heavily on real people and events from Baltimore’s crime history. Though the Omar character  was said to be based on several people – Shorty Boyd, Donnie Andrews, Ferdinand Harvin, Billy Outlaw and Anthony Hollie – none of them were actually named “Omar Little.”

The full name of the man arrested over the weekend is Omar Little Jr., and records show Omar Little Sr. has a record including several drug arrests from the 1990s. The arrest of the younger man, who is 19, is his first, but he’s being held on $350,000 bond because it’s a gun crime. Attempts to reach both men were unsuccessful, and police so far haven’t been able to get me a copy of the police report.