BALTIMORE — Balloons on a light pole rustle in the wind ahead of a summer rain, but it doesn't appear anything will break the heat of this violent cycle.
On the 3100 block of Baker Street, a sign on a porch that read “End Gun Violence,” was blatantly ignored Wednesday evening, at 6:00 p.m., a man was killed there.
It happened just hours after Mayor Jack Young's frustration about the violence boiled over.
“I mean I am sick and tired of every second I get something more on my pager, another male shot in the city of Baltimore or another female or kid is shot,” the mayor erupted, “I am sick and tired of it and the citizens are sick and tired of it too and not point blame because you can look at all of us, including you!”
That 'you' was directed at the historically violent neighborhoods in the city, the mayor saying to those residents — you know who these killers are — so turn them in.
“We have a national reputation of the deadliest city in America, and I don't like that,” the mayor said.
The latest murder happened in front of Troy Alban's business.
Police say a man was shot and later died near the end of Baltimore Street, on the city's Eastside, and police had to shut it down.
Overnight deliveries from Alban's Lord Baltimore Uniform Rental couldn't leave.
Homicide detectives were back out at the scene today, luckily for them the uniform company has security cameras on the building that spans half the block and Alban says it caught plenty.
But, like many, it's the bigger picture that concerns him.
“It's gotta get corrected, and it is getting ridiculous,” Alban said. “It is drawing people away from the city; it's drawing people out of the city. It's gotta get corrected, 100 percent.”
Which is why, despite the loud soundbite by the mayor — all eyes are on a crime plan the city must present to the state by August 1.
