President Biden unveils plan to reduce crime as Baltimore reels from another bout of violence

President Biden unveils plan to reduce crime as Baltimore reels from another bout of violence

BALTIMORE-- An 18-year-old woman was shot in the head during a home invasion and killed in North Baltimore on Tuesday.

She was one of four people shot overnight. She was shot minutes after 1 a.m. 

"What I can confirm is that there was a home invasion at the location," Baltimore Police Department spokesman Donny Moses told WJZ on Tuesday night. "We don't yet know what the motive was."

The other gunshot victims survived their injuries, including two 40-year-old men shot in Pigtown late Monday night. 

"I just heard a whole bunch of shots. We hear shots all the time," said one Pigtown resident and mother. 

The sound of gunshots is part of living in the city, she said. 

"It's bad here and we have to raise our kids here," the woman said.

She said she has lived here all her life and experienced crime in every part of the city where she has resided. 

"Public trust is frayed," President Joe Biden said Tuesday while discussing his Safer America Plan. "It's broken and it undermines safety."

The president was in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, discussing the details of his plan ahead of the midterms. 

Biden's $37 billion crime prevention proposal devotes $13 billion to hiring thousands of police officers over the next five years. 

The plan comes at a time when cities across America are seeing an uptick in shootings and crime, including in Baltimore. 

"When it comes to public safety in this nation, it's not about defunding the police," Biden said. "It's fund the police."   

In Baltimore last week, Gov. Larry Hogan announced his own push to hire more police and combat crime. It includes "a $500 million refund-the-police initiative which includes a 50% increase in state aid to local police to help them recruit and retain quality officers," Hogan said.

Hogan also announced "another $45 million dollars in state funding for Baltimore City crime fighting." 

But even with these plans and initiatives, this mother in Pigtown said she knows the shootings won't stop, so she won't be letting her children outside. 

"Us just coming out and being targeted for nothing, like we could just be wrong place, wrong time," she said, "I don't wanna lose my kids. My youngest is three. My oldest is 20." 

Biden urged people on Tuesday to support a ban on assault-style weapons. 

There have been 237 deadly shootings in Baltimore so far this year, according to city police. 

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