BALTIMORE — Early Monday, police returned to the scene of the mass shooting, which left a 36-year-old man dead and seven others injured, and if they spoke with Oliver resident Chereese Massey, they’d learn how a simple dispute erupted in violence.
“It only started over a parking spot,” said Massey, “That’s how the altercation started. Two individuals got into it, because I guess the wife or girlfriend wanted to park there. They moved the cone, which I guess this in residential. Everybody’s homeowners here.”
Massey says a group of bikers have long used a building bordering the public park near Dr. Bernard Harris Elementary School as a club house, and she showed us a picture where they had blocked off an area near the basketball courts for a cookout.
When things grew heated over the parking space, she dialed 911.
“We called 911 twice and we were ignored and this was around 7:18 or 7:28,” said Massey, “Police really didn’t get here until after several people had been identified as being shot.”
Now, as the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement fan out in the aftermath of the mass shooting to help residents deal with the trauma and pain, the community is rallying around its children who play in the park and are scheduled to get school supplies donated to them there on Thursday.
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My biggest concern is it happening so close to a school. So many kids plan on going back to school,” said Jermaine Jones, the District 12 Council nominee who will be unopposed this fall, “You know just making sure the investigation happens quickly so we can bring some normalcy back to the community and just let people know things like this won’t be normal, especially in a neighborhood like Oliver,” Jermaine Jones, District 12 Democratic Nominee, said.
Residents say it appeared two guns were used in the mass shooting, and they reported hearing as many as a dozen shots fired.
