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No Homicides Reported Nearly 48 Hours Into Ceasefire Weekend In Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Nearly two days into the first ceasefire of 2018 in Baltimore, and so far it's all quiet in the city.

Baltimore City Police haven't reported any homicides since midnight on Friday -- and activists hope it stays that way.

The third citizen-driven ceasefire weekend is a desperate plea to stop the bloodshed in Baltimore.

RELATED: Baltimore Ceasefire Begins As Organizers Call For Violence-Free Weekend

"It didn't start way up here on the throne of city government, it started right here, where people live -- talking to each other," says Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke.

Supporters marched Saturday from St. James Episcopal Church through Baltimore's most war-torn neighborhoods to remember the dead.

"I particularly wanted to remember victims of gun violence by honoring them through going to the sites where they had died, and honoring them by name so their names were not forgotten," says Scott Slater of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

This isn't the first campaign to end the violence. A ceasefire in August 2017 ended just 41 hours in. And in November, another plea for peace was silenced by the killing of a Washington, D.C. police officer.

RELATED: Baltimore Ceasefire Fails To Reach Blood Free Weekend With Murder Of D.C. Cop

In all, 343 people were murdered in Baltimore last year. Twenty-six lives have been taken so far in 2018. Two of them include Sean Dyer and his newlywed bride, Mykia.

Their car was sprayed with bullets on Division Street just 23 days into the new year.

"Most of his gunshot wounds are all in his back because he laid over top of her to protect her," says Erricka Bridgeford, a Baltimore activist.

Now, another desperate plea is underway to put down the guns.

"As young black African-Americans, we've got to come together and stop hating on one another. Stop wanting to see somebody under you and come together, and we're gonna build," one man told WJZ's Devin Bartolotta.

Community members are taking the first steps toward a more peaceful Baltimore.

If successful, this wouldn't be the first homicide-free weekend this year. There were no killings in Baltimore between Jan. 13-18.

For a list of ceasefire events this weekend, visit baltimoreceasefire.com/calendar 

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