A new wave of shootings in Baltimore left six dead and a dozen others wounded over the Memorial Day weekend.
Baltimore’s shooting fatality rate is now higher than in any other month since June 2007, and there have been 33 deaths so far in May. The violence underscores the city’s sharp racial tensions in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death last month, and the riots that followed his death.
“It is disheartening, especially when we think about the progress that we’ve made,” said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a Democrat. “We’ve come too far to have this type of setback.”
One man was shot Friday night in the torso and died later that night in a hospital. Another person was shot and died just before midnight. Two men and a woman died Saturday of gunshot wounds, and another man died Sunday from multiple shots to the abdomen. Other victims with serious injuries were being treated.
Even as these shootings were happening across the city, a very different scene was taking place on Saturday near the location where Gray died in police custody. Activists gathered at North Mount and Presbury streets and walked to City Hall in a march for peace.
Rawlings-Blake also met Saturday with Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and his command staff to discuss changes the department is making in light of Gray’s death, the Baltimore Sun reported.
But things are tough right now at the police department, according to an anonymous Baltimore police officer who spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday. The officer said the department has halted proactive policing, and instead is responding only to 911 calls. Morale is the lowest he’s ever seen, the officer added.
Riots broke out in Baltimore six weeks ago after it was reported that Gray died from spinal cord injuries sustained while riding in a police van. A medical examiner has since ruled Gray’s death a homicide and six police officers are facing criminal charges.
Police violence has grabbed the country’s attention ever since the shooting of Ferguson resident Michael Brown last fall.
The Justice Department has cleared Officer Darren Wilson of civil rights violations in that shooting, and said the evidence shows Wilson shot Brown out of self-defense. But the department also found evidence of bias against black residents in the police ranks.
