Community Activists Work To Deter Baltimore Crime By Talking To City Youth After Violence Continues Tuesday, 15-Year-Old Shot
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- By June 1, 2020, Baltimore City police said there were 130 homicides in the city. Fast forward a year to June 1, 2021, the department said there are eight more homicides compared to last year, at 138.
WJZ traveled across the city Tuesday to get a sense of what residents are saying about the crime.
We spoke with Safe Streets leaders at the corner of East Fayette and North Caroline streets. Many of the leaders are reformed gang members who are trying to stop the younger generation from making the same mistakes they made.
"We explain to them the minute that you shoot, your life is going to change as you know it," said Greg Marshburn with Safe Streets in Sandtown Winchester. "Every ambulance that you hear you think it's a police, every knock, you're going to think it's the police, so your life has changed as you know it."
The group held the emergency community outreach event less than a mile from where police reported a 15-year-old boy was shot in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
Officers responded to the 1200 block of North Eden Street for a Shot Spotter alert around 12:57 a.m. and found the boy shot. Police said that he survived.
In South Baltimore's Brooklyn neighborhood, one block over from where a 52-year-old man was shot and killed on the 3400 block of 5th Street Saturday night, residents told WJZ their neighborhood has been relatively quiet, but there are problems.
"I don't know why they keep shooting people, they need to get their act together," one man told WJZ. "I don't know how they're going to stop it. The mayor can't stop it, the president can't stop it . I don't know who can stop it but God."
Seven miles north at Penn and North, residents said more job training programs need to be available to steer the youth away from crime.
"Ain't nothing is going to be done overnight, it's going to take time," one woman told WJZ.
Another man said members of the community need to help police solve crimes.
"Right now everybody don't want to snitch, nobody wants to say what's going on and what's happening. People continuously keep doing it and people know what's going on and not saying nothing because they are scared," one man told WJZ.
Many of the people who spoke about the violence in the city were reluctant to share their identity.
Eight people were murdered this weekend. Mayor Brandon Scott called the shooters "cowards" who escalate a simple beef to a dangerous level. The Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 3 responded to the mayor's tweet and said, "You can't fight crime if you don't have enough cops."
The Mayor's office released the following statement after a meeting with Commissioner Michael Harrison Tuesday.
"Mayor Scott speaks with Commissioner Harrison daily about violence in Baltimore. Today's meeting examined recent incidents, a targeted summer deployment strategy, and alignment on a public safety approach and goals. Despite increases in gun arrests and clearance rates, Mayor Scott is not satisfied. The Mayor and Commissioner Harrison will continue this ongoing dialogue in an effort to save lives in Baltimore and effectively leverage partnerships across other agencies."
