BALTIMORE — One life was taken while another one was threatened after shootings overnight broke out on opposite ends of Patapsco Avenue just a few miles from each other in South Baltimore.
“I hear the gun shoot three times, but I don’t know really, but I hear it on this side but I couldn’t look up to what was going on because I was tired,” shared one Arbuta Arms resident.
He heard the shots going off early Friday morning while Richard Martin, one of his neighbors, saw the aftermath.
“I just drive in and see all of this police activity and you know they were standing right there and I drove past and they were talking to two young ladies,” Martin said.
All that was left behind by Friday afternoon were subtle remnants of a crime scene that had the area near an apartment complex blocked off for hours. This is after police say a 23-year-old man was shot multiple times.
He would’ve been turning 24 next month, but police say medics arrived and pronounced him dead on scene.
Just a few miles east, up the same road an hour before, police responded to another shooting.
They found a 63-year-old man who’d been shot in the face and transported him to local hospital.
“After my lease, I have to leave here it’s really scary,” said Robert Amesime.
The cycle of gun violence residents see and the concern surrounding it, it’s a common thread neighbors share.
“This is the city of Baltimore, shooting going on all over this place so sorry to know people losing their lives here, there, or anywhere,” Martin added.
But Martin says though it’s concerning, it’s not just a issue we’re facing here in Charm City.
“You really don’t want it, but welcome to the world. It ain’t no safe place anymore. It could’ve been anywhere anytime. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the suburb or you right here, it is what it is. You know. Sorry to know that somebody lost their life here,” he said.
But the reality is, that it was within walking distance of where he calls home, it’s forcing him to keep his eyes open as comes in and out from work.
“I could’ve been in the middle of that. You know what I’m saying, so everybody say a prayer as you go out and come in. Cause only the good lord can guide you and protect you man,” said Martin.
Anyone with any information related to either shooting is asked to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.
