19-Year-Old Towson Teenager Murdered in Home Invasion Police Continue Investigation
I want you to picture this: it’s the middle of the night on December 9, 2024. A 19-year-old named Andrew Blessing is asleep in his grandmother’s home on Beaverbank Circle in Towson. Within seconds, that silence turns into something no family should ever have to live through.
His grandmother, Dianne Blessing, wakes up to the sound of gunshots—loud, fast, and unmistakable. “One after another,” she said. She runs downstairs, heart pounding. Andrew’s been shot. By the time she reaches him, the intruders are already gone.
She held him as he took his last breath.
It wasn’t just a random break-in. This was deliberate. It was violent. And it happened inside a home that had been in her family for 50 years.
We see headlines all the time—”Towson home invasion,” “teen shot,” “police investigating”—but they rarely stop long enough to show you what this actually feels like. For Dianne, it’s not a crime stat. It’s the night she lost the grandson she held first as a baby and last as he died.
This wasn’t just a tragedy. It was personal, messy, and painfully real.
Who Was Andrew Blessing? A Grandmother’s Portrait
When you hear about a young man getting killed in a home invasion, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
If you’re like most people, maybe you assume he was involved in something. That he was living “that life.” But what if I told you Andrew Blessing was asleep in his bed—at home, where he was supposed to be—when someone decided to take his life?
According to FOX Baltimore, Andrew’s grandmother, Dianne, says he wasn’t a thug or a gang member. He was a father, trying to do better. She described him as kind. Family-oriented. Someone who had made mistakes but was working hard to grow from them.
“He wasn’t about that life at all,” she said. “All he was worried about was working and taking care of his daughter.”
I don’t know about you, but that hits different. He had a firearm charge in the past, sure—but haven’t most young men in Baltimore City been forced into survival mode at some point? He was 19. Trying. Sleeping. And now he’s gone.
Let’s not let his name disappear into a headline.
The Suspects — And the Web of Violence Around Them
Let’s talk about the people arrested for Andrew’s murder—because this is where things get even more disturbing.
Police say Mark Jackson and Daiquon Ferguson broke into the house that night. According to the charging documents, Andrew was with Ferguson’s girlfriend, Emoni Rodgers, around the time he was killed. Later that same night, Rodgers was also found dead—shot multiple times and left in Druid Hill Park.
Let that sink in.
Same night. Same gun. Two lives gone. And all signs point to one of the suspects having been in and out of the system more times than you can count.
Ferguson wasn’t some unknown threat. He had a long history of gun offenses. He’d violated parole just days before Andrew was killed. But even with an open warrant, the system didn’t stop him.
I keep coming back to one question: how was this guy still walking the streets?
Sadly, these late-night shootings targeting young people inside their own homes aren’t unique to Towson—a teen in West Atlanta was also wounded under eerily similar circumstances just weeks earlier.
The System Knew — And Still Let It Happen
This is the part that will make you angry—because it should.
Daiquon Ferguson had an open warrant before Andrew died. He was in violation of his parole. A judge had the chance to keep him off the streets. And still, he was released.
Think about that. Days before a 19-year-old was murdered in his sleep, one of the suspects could have been taken in. But wasn’t.
Andrew’s grandmother said it plainly: “If they would have served the warrant, my grandson would be alive right now.”
I agree with her.
And when FOX45 asked the Maryland Judiciary why the judge made that decision, they declined to explain. They sent a generic statement about “ethical rules” and “judicial impartiality.”
At some point, we have to ask: when does a system meant to protect us actually start being part of the harm?
Have you or someone you know ever been failed by the system like this? Drop your thoughts below — stories like this deserve to be talked about.
Emoni Rodgers’ Murder — A Tragic Link or Something Deeper?
This part of the case is messy, confusing, and deeply tragic.
Police say Andrew was with Emoni Rodgers—the girlfriend of one of the suspects—when he was murdered. And then, just hours later, her body turns up in Druid Hill Park. Shot. Killed with the same weapon.
So what really happened here?
Was it a love triangle gone wrong? A setup? A retaliation? We don’t know everything yet. But what we do know is that two young people died within hours, possibly at the hands of the same man. It’s not just sad. It’s devastating.
And again, this isn’t just a “Towson crime story.” These were people—both with families, both with struggles, both now gone.
You deserve to know how those stories connect. But more importantly, you deserve a justice system that can untangle this before more lives are lost.
Stories like this often develop in layers—quietly, over weeks. I came across even more community details in real-time updates shared in a local WhatsApp broadcast. If you’re someone who likes staying close to the ground-level pulse, that might be worth checking out.
Was This All Connected to Something Bigger?
Let me ask you something. When a shooting happens outside a funeral home just one week after this home invasion, in the same community—do you think that’s just a coincidence?
Police are still investigating whether Andrew’s murder is tied to that mass shooting in Towson. They haven’t confirmed it’s gang-related, but they have said there are “rival individuals” involved.
That’s where things get murky. Dianne doesn’t believe there’s a direct connection, though she admits some of Andrew’s friends were present during the funeral home shooting. But she insists: they were victims, not aggressors.
“They weren’t shooting back,” she said. “They were ambushed.”
That says a lot.
So maybe this isn’t just about one bad night. Maybe this is a reflection of how violence spreads when no one steps in—when systems don’t work, and people with records keep slipping through the cracks.
We’ve also seen patterns of targeted intrusions elsewhere—like a recent break-in in Southwest Atlanta where masked attackers specifically stole valuables and left fast.
The Family’s Fight for Justice — And What They Want You to Know
I want you to really sit with this: Dianne Blessing lost her grandson in her own home. She held him as he died. And now, months later, she’s doing what most people wouldn’t have the strength to do—she’s speaking out.
Not just to grieve. Not just to remember Andrew. But to demand accountability from a system that she feels failed them both.
She’s not mincing words. She told FOX45, “Basically, I feel like the system, the judge—they might as well have pulled the trigger themselves.”
It’s a brutal thing to say. But if you’ve ever lost someone because someone else didn’t do their job—you get it.
Dianne is doing what so many families don’t get the chance to do: clear her grandson’s name. Andrew wasn’t out looking for trouble. He was home. He was asleep. He was trying to build a better life—for himself and for his daughter.
If you’ve ever felt like the system protects the wrong people, you’re not alone. And if you think silence is the only option for grieving families, Dianne just proved otherwise.
And while some stories grab headlines because they involve celebrities—like Brad Pitt’s LA home invasion—it’s the stories of everyday families that often go unheard.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to think this kind of thing only happens to “other people.” But Andrew wasn’t on the street. He wasn’t in some back alley. He was sleeping in his grandmother’s house—a place full of 50 years of family memories.
And that’s what makes this so hard to move past.
This story isn’t just about a home invasion. It’s about system failure. About how violent cycles repeat when warnings are ignored. About how families are forced to fight for dignity after the fact.
You don’t have to know Andrew to care about what happened to him. You just have to imagine someone you love in his place.
We’ve covered similar tragedies that raise the same questions about safety, accountability, and what justice really looks like. If this story resonates with you, visit Build Like New to explore more true stories that matter.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available reports, official statements, and firsthand accounts. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. We’ve taken care to present facts respectfully while centering the voices of the people most affected.
