‘Out of control violence:’ 150 people shot this year in Baltimore, including 16 over the weekend
By Mike Hellgren
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BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Lakisha Jones has lived in Baltimore her entire life and is fed up with the violence.
“I have people in my neighborhood who have been robbed, who have been killed, who have been shot,” she told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. “I have a 15-year-old and I don’t want him outside by himself. It’s touching my neighborhood, and it’s touching other neighborhoods as well.”
From Friday through Sunday, 16 people were shot in Baltimore, five have died.
Homicides are up 19 percent year-over-year to 75 as of Monday morning.
Non-fatal shootings are up from 108 in 2021 to 150 in 2022.
“This continued level of violence is both frustrating and disheartening to all of us working to reduce crime and keep residents safe. I personally spent a good portion of the weekend at multiple crime scenes—two of which had multiple victims,” Commissioner Michael Harrison said in a statement.
Police said they made eight warrants for violent crimes and 26 issued warrants, but the latest homicides remain unsolved. “Our officers continue to go out every day to arrest those responsible who are making conscious decisions to commit violence. We are diligently investigating every incident. This violence is damaging to our community and our city is better than this,” Harrison also said.
On Monday afternoon, a 17-year-old was shot in East Baltimore.
On February 11th, Shock Trauma’s Dr. Thomas Scalea, whose hospital treats many of the city’s victims, expressed his frustration. He told reporters at a news conference, “This is out of control. It’s so demoralizing to do this day after day.”
Since then, at least 32 more people have been killed.
“Everybody in the city has been touched by the violence in some way or form. It’s out of control,” longtime Baltimore resident Tre told Hellgren. He declined to give his last name.
“This has been going on for a long time and something should have been done about this a long time ago. It has just gotten out of hand,” he said. “Our city leaders need to step up and do more. Our police department—I know they can only do but so much—but I think more can be done.”
Mayor Brandon Scott declined to answer our questions on camera Monday about the violence. He said in a statement, “The violence Baltimore experienced this weekend shows that we must continue to focus on holding those who choose acts of violence as their method of conflict resolution accountable. These proactive actions by BPD show we remain focused on just that, and we look forward to working with our partners in the justice system to ensure that they are held accountable.”
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