'Out Of Control' | More Than 20 Shot In 4 Days In Baltimore; Murders, Shootings Rise From 2018
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore has seen increasing violence with more than 600 non-fatal shootings since the beginning of the year — a number that has skyrocketed more than 20 percent compared to last year.
There have been 638 non-fatal shootings so far in 2019. Last year at this time, there were 524. The number of murders is up as well from 243 at this point in 2018 to 273 in 2019.
Baltimore has seen more murders to date than New York City, which has had 249. New York has almost 14 times the population. Chicago, with more than four times as many people as Baltimore, has had 413 killings.
"The people of Baltimore have got to stand up and say enough of this stuff," said Phil Jacoby, who has lived in Federal Hill for 30 years. "It should shock me, but it doesn't. I like the new commissioner. I think they're trying, but things are out of control."
He said he was walking his dog Monday night when he saw the police response to a carjacking and shooting on Warren Avenue, which runs along Federal Hill Park. The victim, in that case, suffered a graze wound. Carjackings in the city have risen almost 30 percent this year.
"The increase in crime In this neighborhood is absurd. It's absolutely absurd," he said.
There have been more than 20 people shot in just four days across the city.
That includes a 2-year-old boy hit in the stomach during a road rage incident just a few blocks from Lexington Market.
"You expect this community to be a place you can come home to without violence," said Dedric Richardson. "If the stats are increasing, you've got to do more. The killings have to stop. It's a bad look for Baltimore."
Police identified several recent homicide victims. Antwan Conley was killed Saturday on S. Carey Street. Deontae Taylor was killed the same day on W. Lexington Street. Daurron Scott was murdered on Spaulding Avenue also on Saturday.
Other murder victims include Antonio Modica, 24, and Franklin Ausby, 22. Modica was shot on W. Pratt Street last Thursday. Ausby was killed Sunday on Tunbridge Road.
There were at least four shootings on Monday and Tuesday, including a man shot while riding his bicycle on Beaufort Avenue in Northwest Baltimore and a man murdered in Brooklyn.
If you have any information about the recent shootings, you can call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-Lockup.
