BALTIMORE (WMAR) — With three more murders on Valentine’s Day, Baltimore City is averaging more than one murder a day in 2022.
Monday morning, police got a call for a shooting on Potee Street in South Baltimore. Officers found a man shot in the head inside a vacant home. He died at the scene.
Then at 11 a.m., officers responded to a shooting on East Fayette Street near Douglass Homes in Southeast Baltimore. When officers arrived, they found a woman who was shot in the neck. She later died at an area hospital.
Around 5:30 p.m., officers were called to South Hanover Street. They found a 16-year-old boy and another man with gunshot wounds. The boy died at the hospital.
There were three other murders, eight non-fatal shootings and 30 robberies over the weekend.
In that same time span, BPD made one murder arrest, three robbery arrests and 10 handgun arrests.
The councilman for that area where the woman was shot, Robert Stokes, said Baltimore Police should not only focus on seizing guns but taking dangerous people off the streets too. He introduced a resolution called Holding Gun Offenders Accountable that is currently before the Baltimore City Council.
“It is my intention to use it as a way to begin the conversation locally about the need to create a local gun court. The establishment of a dedicated gun court within the city would have four distinct metrics: expediting the case disposition time of gun related offenses, better tracking of gun related cases and offenders, making the punishment of those gun related crimes more consistent, and if done correctly this process should be able to deter perpetrators from carrying and using firearms,” said Stokes.
“The Baltimore Police Department continues to work with area law enforcement partners to increase visibility and with community organizations to identify and apprehend violent offenders,” said BPD in a statement.
Metro Crime Stoppers rewards are increasing now thanks to funding from the city and the state.
If you have any information related to these cases, call Metro Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-866-7-lockup or contact the homicide unit at 410-396-2100.
