Baltimore Bloodshed Continues; 29 Shot, 9 Dead Over Holiday Weekend
BALTIMORE(WJZ)--It's the deadliest month Baltimore has seen in nearly 15 years. More than two dozen shootings over the holiday weekend alone have city police working around the clock. Now, leaders hope community members come forward to help stop the violence.
From West Baltimore, to the East Side, Govans, to Reservoir Hill--a spike in weekend violence is plaguing all parts of the city. Over the Memorial Day Weekend alone city police report 28 shootings and 9 homicides.
Baltimore Police say they responded to 6 shootings on Friday night, 7 on Saturday, 5 on Sunday and 11 by night fall on Monday.
One of those include a double shooting in which a 9-year-old boy was found shot in the leg and a man who suffered a grazed wound to his head.
Investigators are running down strong leads in many of these shootings and are pleading with witnesses to help.
Police have just released surveillance video of a person of interest in one of the latest homicides. That murder happened along Ducatel Street in the middle of the afternoon right across the street from a busy park.
"It's disturbing because you have the kids playing here and you know, bullets don't have any names on them," one man said.
Neighbors who spoke to WJZ didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation.
"If you say something to these young people they're ready to take your head off," one person said.
WJZ has learned that the mayor held an emergency meeting with the police commissioner and his command staff to address the uptick in violence.
"My hope is the police will get the support they need from the community to be able to get some answers and bring some of these individual to justice," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
But that support doesn't come easy.
"We can't demand that of citizens. We have to go out and earn their trust," said Anthony Batts, City Police Commissioner.
Investigators ask anyone who has any information regarding these shootings to come forward with clues that could put a killer behind bars.
There have been 108 homicides in the city this year. City police are now putting together mini task forces to hit hot spots throughout the city.
Story updated on May 26, 11:03 a.m.
