Teenage girl shot near elementary school in North Baltimore, police say
BALTIMORE -- A teenage girl is in critical condition at a local hospital after she was shot in North Baltimore on Wednesday.
Someone flagged down an officer around 6:15 p.m. and directed him to the 800 block of 43rd Street, which is where he found the injured teen.
The 15-year-old girl is in critical but stable condition at a local hospital, Deputy Commissioner Richard Worley said.
She is a freshman at Mervo High School, according to authorities.
During a press conference following the shooting, Mayor Brandon Scott urged the citizens of Baltimore to get mad at themselves.
"We shouldn't just get mad at the police or attorneys or judges, but really we need to get mad at ourselves as a community," Scott said.
The total impact of the violent event will consume more than one teenager suffering from a gunshot injury, he said.
"We are sitting here at a shooting at a brand new 21st Century school with young children at after-care who are now going to be traumatized because they saw or heard or know someone who got shot outside that building," he said.
The shooting comes after a 13-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 14-year-old boy were injured in two separate shootings at Latrobe Homes on Tuesday night.
A 14-year-old girl was injured Sunday morning in a shooting that involved three minors playing with a gun in Northeast Baltimore, according to police.
Police said 17-year-old D'Asia Garrison was the first murder victim in 2023.
Five Edmondson Westside High School students were shot near their school in January. One of those students died.
Then, in late January, Forest Park High freshman LaRon Henderson was murdered near his school.
Following that deadly shooting, another Edmondson Westside High School student was killed in Northeast Baltimore.
The shootings stem from societal issues, Scott said. Young people are carrying guns around the city and not enough of the adults in their lives are stepping up to tell them that they shouldn't have access to dangerous weapons.
"We are talking about societal issues here that allow young people to think that this is how they're allowed to solve their conflict because quite frankly they learn it from adults," he said.
Scott talked about how the community needed to have honest conversations about crime but reacted negatively to a question from a reporter about what he was doing to try to stop the violence.
"Stop right there," Scott said, cutting off the person who was asking about his crime plan. "I'm telling y'all tonight, I'm not up for it. I'm not up for **** *** questions. I'm up for real questions, not the stupid ones tonight."
He noted that there wasn't one thing that isn't going to stop the violence from happening. Every single thing matters, from the life of the girl, which was altered by a terrible crime, to the people who pulled the trigger to alter it.
The city's violent crimes will only change when people start holding those around them accountable for their actions, he said.
"This family deserves to say and know who shot this baby," Scott said. "It's that simple."
