Turning Up The Heat On Crime: Baltimore Police Conduct 11 Early Morning Raids
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City Police are turning up the heat as they crack down on a number of suspects wanted for murder and several shootings across the city.
Police continue to dismantle a notorious gang they say is terrorizing the city with crime. For the second time, police gear up and raid several homes in East Baltimore, taking associates of the Black Guerrilla Family into custody.
Rochelle Ritchie was with officers as they raided the home and took one of their targeted suspects into custody.
Baltimore City Police are not playing any games. They are taking down suspected criminals and BGF gang members and their associates across the city one at a time, any day at any hour.
Early Tuesday morning, WJZ rode along as officers conducted 11 search and seizure warrants in the Eastern District.
All of the search warrants were carried out at the same time. Of the 11 targets, two of them were wanted for murder.
Teamed up with undercover investigators, WJZ cameras roll as neighbors on Rutland Avenue are awakened to a loud bang, not from gunshots, but from a police ram rod.
The raid is a success. Police find their intended target. He's placed in custody and taken to jail. Police say his fate is the same fate they plan to hand out to other wanted criminals.
"Since 2010, the Oliver community has suffered through the loss of 11 lives due to gun violence and an additional 16 incidents in which people suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds," said Dean Palmere, Deputy Commissioner, Baltimore City Police.
Six people were taken into custody during Tuesday's raids.
The numerous raids across the city are in response to the bloodshed that has terrorized neighborhoods from east to west.
Just last week, the State's Attorney's Office handed down indictments to 48 alleged members of the Black Guerrilla Family, a gang who police blame for much of the senseless violence.
"In many areas of the city, BGF is known to fuel and reinforce its existence and dominance through the sale and distribution of narcotics, acts of violence and intimidation, the use of firearms and other serious crimes," said Gregg Bernstein, State's Attorney.
Tuesday's raid turned up several drugs, including heroin and cocaine.
"The individuals that are within the community that are distributing the heroin and cocaine grew up in this community and are being influenced by BGF," said Palmere.
City Police say the raids will be conducted at random until all those suspected of committing or assisting in crimes across the city are behind bars.
The State's Attorney's Office has indicted 68 people in the last five days.
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