Omar Little Arrested in Baltimore, 'The Wire' Namesake Hit with Guns Charge

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on January 03, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Omar Little is under arrest in Baltimore, but here's a reality check for fans of HBO's "The Wire": It's just a coincidence.

Baltimore police arrested Omar Little Jr., 19, on a handgun charge over New Year's weekend. It was Little's first arrest, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Omar Little's arrest would have received little attention, but for his famous name. It's almost identical to that of a fictional character named Omar Little, a gay gangster who spends much of the HBO series "The Wire" roaming the mean streets of Baltimore with a shotgun.

The Omar Little from "The Wire," portrayed by actor Michael K. Williams, adhered to a strict moral code before he was gunned down in Season 5. He was one of the most popular characters on "The Wire," and even President Barack Obama called Omar Little his favorite.

So when a Sun reporter tweeted that the name Omar Little had turned up on a police blotter, news of the real Little's arrest went viral.

The reporter later clarified: "If you saw my tweet last night about an arrest of an Omar Little Jr, I reached out to ["The Wire" creator] David Simon, who says it is 'coincidence, completely.'"

The Sun has not yet obtained a copy of Omar Little's arrest report, so it's not clear what kind of gun charge the real-life Little is facing.

Little's arrest comes less than a year after Baltimore police arrested an actress with genuine ties to "The Wire." Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, who played a gang member also named "Snoop," pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute heroin, the Huffington Post reports. Pearson received probation.

As for the real Omar Little Jr., he is being held in lieu of $350,000 bond. Perhaps some advice from the fictional Omar Little is in order: "The game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."

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