BALTIMORE — In the middle of the afternoon Baltimore had its 109th homicide. The victim was shot in the head.
“Trauma is so heavy in Baltimore City and it’s recurring,” said Deshawn Batson.
Batson is on the Youth Trauma Response team.
He came out to the shutdown portion of East Fayette Street to let neighbors know they have people to talk to.
“We try to catch retaliatory trauma before it happens. Just coming out to interact with the community to let them know we are here and that they can talk.”
The familiar sight of forensics units and search dogs came the day after a 14-year-old was shot several times in Northwest Baltimore.
The teenager is fighting for his life at the hospital.
“Knowing that a 14-year-old was severely shot and is in critical condition, and the fact that homicide is having to investigate and work with it,” Batson said. “We have to get to the place where we have to start valuing life.”
The pandemic is not slowing down violence in the city, as the homicide rate keeps up with last year.
We saw more than 300 cases in 2019.
“Many of our young people aren’t taking the virus seriously,” said Batson. “They feel like they are exempt from it. The truth is the matter is they’re not. We really have to get to the place that we have to start educating our young people about certain stuff. It’s not going to keep them in the house.”
Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
