Baltimore City on pace for 300-plus homicides for 8th straight year

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City has reached 200 homicides, averaging almost a murder a day in 2022.

Quintin Manuel was killed Monday along E. Fayette Street in East Baltimore. His friends called him Q.

"He was working, trying to get a construction job," friend Tony Brown said. "Just the wrong place, wrong time."

Manuel was the 197th homicide victim in Baltimore this year.

"Stop the violence and, I don't know, figure something out," Brown said. "I definitely feel like there needs to be a little change in the city."

At a snowball stand in East Baltimore, Doris -- who declined to provide her last name -- told WJZ about her son Gregory, who was killed in Baltimore City in 1995. She said her son's murder remains unsolved.

"I don't know why these people out here got to have guns. Why do you need a gun for? You're taking people's lives," Doris said. "I get up every morning, I can't see my son."

The city is on pace to eclipse 300 homicides for the eighth straight year. Gov. Larry Hogan has been in office each of those years, but laid the blame Thursday on city leadership.

"I've been focused on getting the leadership in Baltimore to take it more seriously. I hope they come up with a real crime plan and start arresting more, prosecuting more and putting them in jail," Hogan said.

Doris, meanwhile, wishes more police officers would patrol on foot.

"Get on these lazy police and get out of your car and start walking," Doris said.

Non-fatal shootings are also up year-to-date this year. The 394 non-fatal shootings represent a nearly 5% increase over 2021.