Woman, 61, Is Baltimore's 100th Homicide Victim
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A 61-year-old woman is the 100th homicide victim in Baltimore this year.
Baltimore Police Department confirmed that officers found the woman dead inside a home Monday in the 2500 block of Violet Avenue in the northwest part of the city.
This part of the street leads to the MonteVerde Apartments, which is where neighbors saw police activity for hours starting just before 5 p.m.
"We've been asking for security for the longest time," resident Gwendolyn Williams. "I'm raising my granddaughter in here. She's 13. I don't let her go to the trash room. I don't let her go nowhere without me."
Investigators from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office inspected the body and found multiple signs of trauma. The woman's death was ruled a homicide, according to police.
"When you see what people are dying over in this city, when you see incidents of people being killed by folks that they consider friends and in some cases family, we know that we have a lot of healing to do in this city, and that healing starts with holding these people accountable," Mayor Brandon Scott said during a press conference Tuesday.
The grim milestone paints a broader picture of violent crime escalating in Baltimore.
According to police statistics for year-to-date homicides, there have been 7 more murders in 2022.
Non-fatal shootings have also ticked up this year with 209 compared to 168 in 2021.
"People are getting killed every day for what?" questioned Dwayne Hedgepeth.
Hedgepeth's mother has lived in the same apartment building where the latest homicide victim was murdered for 15 years.
"It makes me feel uneasy."
So far, no arrests have been made in that case.
Additional cruel crimes continued across the city on Tuesday too.
Early in the day, around 10:45 a.m., a 19-year-old man was shot outside of the Happy Family Mart in the 700 block of Cherry Hill Road in South Baltimore, according to authorities.
His condition remains unknown, police said.
Hours later, homicide detectives were asked to investigate a shooting that killed a man in South Baltimore, according to authorities.
The man was shot in the 1800 block of Ramsey Street at 8:19 p.m., police said. He fled to S. Monroe Street, which is where he collapsed.
An ambulance took the man to Shock Trauma where he was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Less than 40 minutes later, at 8:55 p.m., another man was shot across town.
Police in Northwest Baltimore responded to a report of a shooting in the 3100 block of Oakford Avenue, according to authorities.
Once there, they found a 40-year-old man who had been shot in the head.
An ambulance took the man to Sinai Hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.
If you have information on any of these crimes, contact homicide detectives at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.
