BALTIMORE — A deadly shooting in South Baltimore Saturday night has left a community desperately asking for change.
Police were called to the 2400 block of Maisel Court for reports of multiple shots fired.
On scene, they discovered 12-year-old Jaylen Richards suffering from gunshot wounds. Baltimore City School officials confirmed Richards was a sixth-grader who attended Westport Academy.
Richards was taken to Shock Trauma, where he later died.
Police say the shooter produced an assault rifle-type firearm.
"Just because he lives in the projects doesn’t mean he is a product of his environment, you get what I’m saying," said neighbor Laavia Pittman. "Like every kid has their day, but there’s no excuse for a 12-year-old to get executed the way he did."
Family members and neighbors say they are worried about the increase in gun-related deaths among children.
"They don’t care now a days, killing little kids, something has to be done," said Gregory Jiggets, another neighbor.
Alicia Pulley, who says she is Richards' aunt, took the news hard when she found out what happened.
"I lost my nephew to these streets. Wes Moore, Ivan Bates, we’ve got to pull together a little bit faster," said Pulley. "We’re loosing the generation, they ain’t supposed to leave before us. You heard me now, they supposed to take over and watch after us, y’all. It’s a tragic incident, it’s definitely time for something to be done in Baltimore as far as crime goes. And it’s a really sad thing for a family to have to bury a 12-year-old."
People are calling for some type of intervention to be done to get ahead of situations before they escalate.
The community wants to see justice served and for the city to find the killer of this young boy.
"I miss my little buddy, and they just have to catch who done this to him," said Pulley. "If anybody knows something, please say something, and we appreciate y’all and we thank y’all for the condolences."
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
