Police Identify Elder Women Killed In Pair Of Baltimore Shootings
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- An $8,000 reward is being offered for tips in the murder of a 70-year-old Baltimore woman, one of two women killed Thursday in the city.
Linda Burnette Dennis was found shot multiple times outside her Queensberry Avenue home near Pimlico during a wellness check about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Baltimore Police said. She died at the scene.
Police said the 70-year-old was found just outside her back door, and her murder left neighbors equally stunned and frightened for their own safety.
"Coming home from work and there's a murder right next door to you, it makes you scared. It makes me scared," said one neighbor, who did not wish to be named.
The same neighbor told WJZ that Dennis largely kept to herself, only going outside to take the trash out and briefly speak with her neighbors before going back inside.
"I can't imagine why someone would want to kill her," he said. "That woman don't bother nobody. Nobody!"
Mayor Brandon Scott called for any witnesses or anyone with information about the 70-year-old's murder to come forward and share what they know with police.
"This one really hits home to me. That block is where some of my closest friends grew up. I stood on that block many days," Scott said. "My first thing is to the person or persons who did that: You are a coward, you are a scum and we will find you. We will hold you accountable."
Later Thursday, 50-year-old Monique Billinger was murdered in West Baltimore, police said.
Officers called to a shooting about 9 p.m. in the 1300 block of North Mount Street found Billinger shot in the chest. She was taken to a hospital but did not survive.
The women's murders come as Baltimore continues to grapple with a wave of violent crime that has shown no signs of letting up.
The city has seen 59 homicides and 117 non-deadly shootings this year, compared to 45 homicides and 92 non-deadly shootings for the same time last year, according to figures provided by police.
Violence has been so rampant that Gov. Larry Hogan has pushed for additional funding for law enforcement, both in Baltimore and statewide. He's calling for $500 million to be spent on public safety over the next three years.
Former Prince George's County Executive and Maryland gubernatorial candidate Rushern Baker said if elected, he would declare a state of emergency in the city as part of an effort to combat violent crime.
"More than 2,000 mostly young, Black men have been killed in Baltimore over the past eight years and if that's not an emergency, then I don't know what is," Baker said in a statement Thursday. "You can guarantee that if this was happening in Howard or Anne Arundel County, we would have taken action a long time ago."
Last month, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison touted a 44.7% homicide clearance rate in 2022, up from 34.2% for the same period last year.
Despite those successes, Harrison said investigators need more cooperation from residents in criminal investigations, and he challenged witnesses to come forward and share what they know to help authorities bring violent criminals to justice.
"There are people out there sometimes standing right there and not only not attempting to stop this behavior but also being very uncooperative in helping us hold these cowardly criminals accountable," Harrison said. "In order to be truly successful in the fight against crime, we all have to work together."
Baltimore Police and Metro Crime Stoppers have offered an $8,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest and charges in Dennis' murder. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.