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The manhunt for at least two shooters who struck 30 people at a Baltimore block party stretched into a second day as the stunned city mourned the victims and braced for the possibility of more violence.
Police identified the two fatalities as Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20. Twenty-three of the 28 people wounded were teens, and more than half are minors. The oldest was 32.
Police have not identified suspects and said federal and state law enforcement teams were aiding the investigation. Just last week, officials had announced a sharp decline in the city’s violent crime rate, citing the “expanded collaboration between federal, state, and local law enforcement.”
Multiple videos have emerged from the scene − one showing partygoers scrambling to safety, another apparently showing a young man pulling out a gun. Neither video shows the actual shooting. But Mayor Brandon Scott called for a “better level of accountability” and expressed disappointment at “some grown man filming some young person pull out a gun … to get likes on Instagram.”
Scott vowed that city officials won’t rest until the killers are found.
“This act of violence has shaken our city to the very core,” he said. “We are all grappling with the shock, pain and trauma that accompanies such a heinous act of destruction.”
Developments:
∎ Some residents raised concerns about a lack of police presence at the event, but Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Rich Worley said the event was not permitted and police were unaware it was taking place until hours before the shooting.
∎ No suspects have been detained. Investigators were reviewing video from the scene and talking to witnesses to try to identify the shooters.
Brooklyn neighborhood a ‘marginalized’ community
The block party, although unpermitted, is an annual event at Brooklyn Homes, a two-story public housing project featuring almost 500 apartments. City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter described the neighborhood as “marginalized,” struggling with high unemployment and of violent crime.
“Brooklyn has forever and always been a neglected community,” Porter said as a news conference hours after the shooting. “This is not the time for us to forget them, this is the time for us to come together and stand in solidarity with them.”
Baltimore homicides were trending lower this year
Last week, Maryland federal prosecutor Erek Barron announced that, because of the crime-reduction efforts led by his office, homicides and non-fatal shootings in Baltimore were continuing to “trend down significantly.” For the first half of 2023, homicides were down 22.2% and non-fatal shootings down 12.6%.
“We have much more work to do, but law enforcement and community collaboration, innovation, and evidence-based initiatives are making neighborhoods safer,” Barron said Thursday.
How the Baltimore shooting unfolded
The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. in the Brooklyn Homes neighborhood of South Baltimore. Gonzalez was declared dead at the scene, and nine victims were transported by ambulance, Worley said. Twenty victims transported themselves to area hospitals with injuries from the shooting, he said.
Scott urged residents to help with the investigation and to assist families of the victims, treating them “how you would want people to treat it if you were mourning, if this was your neighborhood.”
And he had a warning for the killers.
“I want those who are responsible to hear me, and hear me very clearly,” Scott said. “We will not stop until we find you, and we will find you. Until then, I hope that every single breath you take, that you think about the lives that you took, think about the lives that you impacted here tonight.”
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