BALTIMORE — Picking up the pieces after the worst mass shooting in Baltimore’s history at Brooklyn Homes.
24 hours earlier, the city’s top cop says officers had spotted people setting up for the event so there’s no question they knew about it hours before it turned into a shootout.
“They kept it to themselves until I think 10:45 p.m. when they told, ‘Hey, Brooklyn Day is here’, and basically, they were going home, because their shift was over. So that’s the activity we’re looking at. There’s no excuse we didn’t know,” said Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley.
“Would you consider that negligence?” shot back City Council member Phylicia Porter.
Some committee members also took issue with SAFE Streets who had workers at the party that night who engaged on five separate occasions, yet failed to warn police of any further potential threats.
“I think one of the things it can and should do is be the credible messengers that raise the alarm bells and say, ‘This is not going well,’” said Baltimore City Council Member Zeke Cohen.
“While we saw some interpersonal dynamics, it was nothing that indicated a mass shooting was about to occur,” countered MONSE Interim Executive Director Stephanie Mavronis.
The housing authority never issued a permit, tenants never sought one and its armed security officers were assigned to other complexes in the city, while police officers patrolled South Baltimore seemingly everywhere, except where they were needed the most.
“Every agency that we are talking to is directly coming back to BPD,” said Porter, “This is not an aspect of just having officers’ indifference. This is a clear aspect of not following the rules, and lives are being lost.”
