BALTIMORE — December alone has left families across Baltimore heading into a new year mourning the loss of loved ones to violence, adding to the city’s grim milestone of homicides.
There’s the murder 19-year-old Jaymyra Burrell.
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“My daughter, she was pregnant and she was shot down coming back from getting some food,” the teen’s father said.
Four men were gunned down in Park Heights within 24 hours last week.
“It was like a least four crime scenes. It was about 12 police cars. They were all in the alley,” one witnesses described.
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On top of that, a man was gunned down at the Royal Farms gas station in South Baltimore.
“It’s not a shock. I love my city, you know, but it’s [like] things are getting out of hand,” a frequent customer there shared.
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That state of violence is at the center of conversation for the last time this year in City Hall.
“It is no surprise to anyone here that folks are frustrated with the current state of violence here in the city,” District 4 Councilman Mark Conway said during the quarterly public safety hearing at City Hall.
BPD shared the city’s homicide clearance rate which is at 37 percent, similar to last year, non-fatal shooting clearance rate at 22%, down from last year and solved burglaries and robberies also down.
The city’s Western District, where the group violence reduction strategy has been enacted, saw the biggest reduction in homicides with 52 last year and 32 this year.
The director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement Shauntay Jackson sees this as a ray of hope in the crime fight.
Suggesting the strategy is producing promising results; however the doubled amount of homicides in the North Eastern District went from 20 last year to 43 this year, raises whether it’s really a success.
“Do you guys believe that there has been a displacement of crime as a result of the pilot,” Conway questioned.
BPD commissioner Michael Harrison answered saying it’s not groups of criminals deciding to relocate all together, which would support the group violence displacement theory, but individuals are acting independently.
“What we’re seeing is while there is an increase its in multiple motives, not just group violence. It’s an increase in the number of people who know one another. It’s family members and it’s robberies gone bad,” he said.
Heading into the new year, city leaders expect to have similar conversations.
“People are frustrated and we need to meet that need and address those issues as quickly as possible,” Conway expressed.
While citizens remain hopeful for different results.
“We have to be safe as working people, you know, want to get something for our kids. We have to be safe and hopefully things change and our city turns around,” shared a Baltimore citizen.
The city’s next public safety hearing will be early next year.
