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Baltimore Nearing 160 Homicides Less Than Halfway Through 2017

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The number of murders continues to sky rocket in Baltimore after six people are killed in less than 24 hours.

Baltimore is closing in on 160 homicides, not even halfway through the year.

Police are beefing up patrols and canvassing neighborhoods.

WJZ's Rick Ritter spoke with some residents who said they're scared to come forward and go to police because they're afraid they too could be gunned down.

The blood shed is hard to fathom. Six people killed in hours, one of them, Sebastian Dvorak, just turned 27.

They're homicide 155 and 157 in Baltimore, but the two victims' faces have a story. Both were gunned down in violence that's incomprehensible.

"The senselessness of this violence, I'm at a loss words," said David Dvorak, Sebastian's father.

Dvorak was a local bartender at Ryleigh's Oyster. He was robbed and gunned down along Boston Street after a night out with friends.

His family has been left shattered.

"We are deeply saddened of our dearest son Sebastian," said David. "He was exceptional in every possible way, lit up every room and loved by so many."

A murder in the popular Canton area that shows gunfire is reaching epic proportions.

"We have to take ownership of our city," David said. "The police cannot stop all murders in this city unless community is involved."

Baltimore City police are now trying a new strategy. 12 hour shifts are effective immediately and they're going door-to-door in the neighborhoods of these homicides.

Including west Baltimore, where 37-year-old Charmaine Wilson was gunned down along Gertude Street.

"There is a murderer among us who is an absolutely monstrous human being," said Baltimore PD spokesman T.J. Smith.

The mother of eight called police because one of her son's was being bullied. Shortly after, she was shot to death.

"This is something that should outrage the entire community, entire city, because there are cowards walking around that took this mother, killed a woman over dispute," Smith said.

These are obvious signs that pulling the trigger in Charm City has become far too easy.

"It should at least be a felony to carry an illegal gun," said mayor Catherine Pugh. "There's too many illegal guns on streets of our city."

The mayor says they're talking with judges, saying this city has to do better with keeping people behind bars who have violent backgrounds and guns in their hands.

No arrests have been made in the homicides of Dvorak and Wilson.

Police say there is no motive in the Canton murder at this time, but they are combing through surveillance video, and as soon as they have anything valuable they will release it to the public to help identify a suspect.

Police are urging people to text them anonymously with tips or any video that may have been taken around the time frame of these murders. That number is (443) 902-4824.

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