BALTIMORE — It was the first week of January when a 77-year-old man and his son were unloading groceries from their car in Bolton Hill when a pair of black SUVs emerged from a nearby alley.
“One SUV parked behind them and one SUV parked alongside them, and they all jumped out at the same time and started hitting them,” the elderly victim’s wife told us.
We agreed to conceal her identity for her own protection.
She went on to say her son jumped on top of her husband’s body to help shield him from the blows.
“They demanded the keys and one of the boys… these were teenage boys who did this… one of the boys threatened to stab my son.”
The attack has prompted the Bolton Hill Community Association to begin reviewing its existing safety measures here in the neighborhood.
Adding more lights, cameras, disrupting traffic patterns.
It appears virtually everything is on the table.
“I had a neighbor who was carjacked pulling into her garage and someone was in the alley and snuck in so it’s important to be vigilant and important to have the community active,” said Jim Prost, the chair of the association’s Safety and Security Committee.
Fortunately, a neighbor began yelling out of her window at the attackers and scared them away.
The victim’s wife says one private donor is even offering a $30,000 reward to help catch those who left her husband with a fractured back, collarbone and rib, along with a brain injury, which required surgery.
“It was a bleak January, but the outpouring of sympathy and generosity of our neighbors and friends has overwhelmed us and we’re very deeply appreciative.”
