At Least 5 Shootings In Baltimore Since Monday; Harrison Weighs In On Mosby Prosecution Policy
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The relentless pace of killings in Baltimore has not let up with at least five shootings reported since Monday after a weekend where 18 people were shot across the city.
Fear And Frustration: 18 People Shot In Baltimore Last Weekend, Including Two Fells Point Shootings https://t.co/0MqEBU3u4v @wjz #Baltimore
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) June 28, 2022
Derek McGowan lives a block from one of the city's latest deadly shootings in the Coldstream, Homestead, Montebello neighborhood, which is commonly known as the CHUM.
Makeon Hines, 24, was gunned down on Robb Street just before 11 p.m. Monday.
McGowan blames easy access to guns on the high number of shootings.
"When something kicks off, they won't be going to swing, they're going to reach and grab their weapon," he told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren.
He fears the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that could loosen a Maryland gun law will make things worse.
The Supreme Court's decision impacts 6 states including Maryland—and a law that restricts the carrying of firearms in public and requires a demonstrated need to do so. It marks the first expansion of gun rights since 2008. @wjz https://t.co/Jf2EZgmyJO
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) June 23, 2022
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) touted gun safety legislation Congress passed last week and said it includes millions for mental health and other programs.
"Baltimore is in line to get some help under that that would provide resources to have alternatives to keep people safer and safer activities," Cardin said at a City Hall news conference Monday.
McGowan believes it is too little too late.
"The point is the weapons are available and they're proliferating all over the street so when people have issues—beefs—they are weaponized on a level that they will result in death," he said.
More than half of homicides go unsolved. In Baltimore, hundreds of families are left hurting without answers every year. Starting tomorrow, WJZ and CBS News are digging into the numbers, the reasons why, and what can be done to bring closure in Crime Without Punishment @wjz pic.twitter.com/gkkWRVbnPG
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) June 28, 2022
Other shootings include two in West Baltimore Monday afternoon. One was in Poppleton on Vine Street where Chopper 13 showed an active police response.
Another left a 23-year-old man wounded at Fayette and Fulton just after 1:15 p.m.
On Washington Post Live, BPD Commissioner Michael Harrison was asked about Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's policy of not prosecuting some low-level crimes—like marijuana possession. He said it is not fueling more violence.
"The people committing low-level crimes, those offenders for those crimes are not graduating to be the shooters—and they're not the victims of shootings," Harrison said. "There's not a correlation between those crimes and violent crimes."
He also spoke about the implementation of that policy.
"The issue I had and that I spoke about at the conference was the collaboration and coordination of a state's attorney creating that policy in a silo without me at the table," he said.
Harrison admitted some officers are not on board.
"They resist it because they go through an academy and training and they are taught that our job is to enforce the law," Harrison said.