Baltimore officials to hold memorial vigil for 2023 fatalities
BALTIMORE -- City officials are inviting members of the community to join them at a "vigil of remembrance" for people who died in Baltimore.
The vigil will honor the lives of sons, daughters, friends, and loved ones who died in Baltimore in 2023. It will take place at the War Memorial Plaza—101 W. Gay Street—at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Tomorrow, Baltimore will come together as a community to remember the lives that we lost in 2023.
— Brandon M. Scott (@MayorBMScott) January 2, 2024
I am inviting all of you to join me, our city officials, and local community leaders, at War Memorial Plaza as we remember our friends and family who are not here with us today. pic.twitter.com/c1QokKvNiU
There were 263 people murdered in Baltimore in 2023. The number of people killed in the city decreased by more than 20% from the number of homicides recorded in 2022.
Although the reduced number marks the first time since 2014 that Baltimore has recorded fewer than 300 homicides, it is little consolation to those who lost their loved ones to violence.
The year 2023 began with the murder of 17-year-old D'Asia Garrison and included many young victims.
One of the last homicides of the year took the life of a 17-year-old boy who has yet to be identified by police. Officers found him and a 20-year-old man suffering from gunshot injuries near Reisterstown Road on Dec. 29.
The number of teenagers who were shot in Baltimore within the first four months of 2023 prompted Mayor Brandon Scott to implement a curfew for the city's youth.
Teenagers were killed during school hours, sometimes not far from the schools they attended.
Mayor Scott and Commissioner Harrison are giving an update on the shooting that happened on Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Five people were shot. Officials say victims are minors. @wjz
— Jessica Albert (@JessicaAlbertTV) January 4, 2023
We have several crews on scene gathering info. pic.twitter.com/I3GSao5D1h
The wide array of violence impacted people of all ages across the city, though.
There was a shooting at a bus stop in Southwest Baltimore that killed 69-year-old Anton Kancir.
In Northwest Baltimore, 75-year-old Versey Spell was found stuffed inside a black container, and she wasn't the only person whose body was found in a container in 2023.
Dustin Davis, 32, was found inside a storage container, too. Officers found the container at a vacant house in West Baltimore.
In Southeast Baltimore, 57-year-old Darrell Benner was killed while trying to help his nephew who had been carjacked in Canton.
Across the neighborhood, at the Canton shopping center, 23-year-old Fabian Alberto Sanchez Gonzalez was fatally shot during a robbery at the Canton T-Mobile store where he was employed.
The last fatal shooting of 2023 took place along a busy thoroughfare in Northeast Baltimore on New Year's Eve.
That's where a 36-year-old man was gunned down in the 4200 block of Belair Road.
"This is not acceptable, and we no longer are going to put up with that," Daphne Alston, whose son was murdered in 2008, said at a New Year's Day vigil on North Avenue. "One homicide this year is too many."