BALTIMORE — A community organization against crime said they are making sure the more than 300 people killed in Baltimore City last year aren’t forgotten.
It’s starting with a banner Guardian Angels are unveiling this weekend in honor of every homicide in 2022.
Guardian Angels is a worldwide volunteer crime fighting group. Marcus Dent is the regional director and he said the local chapter has a mission to bring awareness to the hundreds of people being killed every year in Baltimore.
“What we’re doing today is putting together a homicide memorial banner to kind of bring attention to the 300 homicides, well 333 homicides in Baltimore City [in] the year 2022. We want to be able to take this into the community and say hey how many of these people are from your community,” Dent said.
It's why they created a memorial with the names, ages, dates and how people were killed last year.
“All these victims here just about represent every part of the city. Policeman, doctors, business people, kids, women, grandmothers, so nobody is safe,” Dent said.
At first glance a few notable names included 43-year-old James Blue who was killed last January, 23-year-old Antonio Wilkins who was killed last October, and 17-year-old Jeremiah Brogden who was killed last September outside Mervo high school. All three were victims of gun violence.
“It says that we as a community, we as a city, we as a state, have to do better of how we handle this level of violence on a consistent basis,” Dent said.
Dent believes part of the blame falls on some of the cities leaders.
“We’ve had a prosecutor’s office who didn’t prosecute, we’ve had judges who didn’t give out the right sentences, we have a police who aren’t allowed to engage. So we’re sending the wrong message to the criminals out here that are doing the robbing, stealing and especially the killing,” Dent said.
He said the rest of the blame falls on the people who are aware of the shooters but don’t hold them accountable.
“None of these people are magicians, they’re not ninjas, somebody knows who these shooters are and nobody’s talking,” Dent said.
The banner will be hung Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. outside New Covenant Church in Southwest Baltimore.
“We’re just going to drop the banner down and it’s going to cover that whole wall,” Dent said.
Dent said it's going to take a bigger responsibility from every person in Baltimore to help with a solution to the violence.
“I want this to upset some people, I want this to make them concerned, I want them to say you know what is it that we can do to help curve the homicides. Hopefully it will make a difference,” Dent said.
