Harrison: 3 Men Killed In North Baltimore Quadruple Shooting Likely Knew Their Killer
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore will end the decade with one of the highest per-capita homicide rates in America. Three men were killed inside a rowhouse on East 43rd Street off York Road just after 10 p.m. Monday, bringing the total to 348 lives lost.
Another man died Tuesday, nearly two weeks after being shot in south Baltimore.
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"We don't know how they know one another but the fact that they were inside a residence that did not have any forced entry that we know of suggests that the perpetrator was likely known to them in some way," Commissioner Michael Harrison said at a press conference on New Year's Eve.
He said 44 other killings in 2019 have happened inside homes in the city where the victims likely knew their killers.
In that same block on Memorial Day 2016, five people were shot at a cookout.
"These problems—by and large—are between people who know one another and who are solving these conflicts with gun violence," he said.
Harrison said a separate shooting in the city around the same time as the one on East 43rd Street is not connected.
Many in the community declined to comment out of fear of retaliation. One neighbor said she's fed up with the violence.
"It's just a circle going round and round and round. Every year (it's) getting higher and higher and higher with the murder rate," she said. "Any time, they just bust out shooting anybody. We can get shot just standing here. That's sad. I just wish things will be better next year. 2020 hope for the best."
The commissioner also reacted to a letter from the police union, alleging he does not support rank-and-file officers and that detectives are so short-staffed, they're "handling caseloads that would make law enforcement experts gasp if they knew the volume."
"We've always talked about the caseload. We've always talked about the manpower shortage. You hear me talk about that all the time," Harrison told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "My comment to that is I remain laser-focused on providing the leadership that the men and women of this department and the citizens of this city need and deserve."
The BPD's clearance rate has dropped in the past year to less than one-third of all homicide cases.
Also Tuesday, the department announced a $4,000 reward in the shooting death of Destiny Harrison. Harrison was killed inside her east Baltimore salon just four days before Christmas.
