3 Murders In Less Than A Week: Residents of Baltimore Neighborhood Plead For Help As Violence Surges
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- David keeps a knife on him because he fears for his safety even while walking down the streets in Carrollton Ridge, a troubled neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore where police have responded to three murders in less than a week.
"This morning I heard at least five shots," David told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "This morning! That was about a quarter to seven. I could not believe it. It's getting real hectic down around here."
Dave declined to give his last name.
The gunfire he heard was in the 1900 block of Ramsay Street where police found a man dead. He had been shot multiple times.
"When I do come out, I come out after 12, noon, but I'm back in the house before five in the evening," David said. "I keep my hand on my little knife. I have to because you never know what's going on out here.
Annette, who also declined to give her last name, lives just steps away from where a deadly shooting occurred Tuesday morning.
"The only thing I heard was bang, bang, bang, bang," she told Hellgren.
Annette has lived in Carrollton Ridge for more than 50 years and has never seen it this violent.
"That's what woke me up," she said. "You heard the gunshots. They are shooting every day. 24 hours. Killing. Killing. Killing."
Annette says she remains frustrated at the response of city leaders.
"They aren't doing anything about it. Brandon Scott is talking," she said. "He ain't doing nothing. You can't do that. Do something about it." Hellgren asked her opinion of the commissioner's response. "He needs to do something about it too."
It comes as Police Commissioner Michael Harrison answered questions about his budget from the city council Tuesday night. In a recent one-on-one interview, Harrison told Hellgren many criminals do not fear getting caught.
"We want to make sure there are consequences for that behavior because if we don't, then they will continue to do that," Harrison said.
Monday night, the city's chief prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, defended against accusations her office was dangerously understaffed.
The bickering and politics matter little to those in Carrollton Ridge who are too scared to leave their homes after dark and feel city leaders have forgotten them.
"If you could talk to the mayor and commissioner right now, what would you tell them?" Hellgren asked David. "Help! Help pretty much, it's help. We need help. We need you to do something about this crime and these shootings."
Most of the city's homicides go unsolved with a clearance rate of roughly 42%. That number is up from 31.6% in 2019, according to the Baltimore Police Department.
