Two Teenagers Shot, One Killed, At Inner Harbor During Memorial Day Weekend, Police Say
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Two teenagers were shot in downtown Baltimore—one of them fatally—near the harbor on Saturday, according to authorities.
Officers on patrol near Inner Harbor responded to the sounds of gunshots at 7:34 p.m., police said.
They found a 17-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy with gunshot injuries in the 300 block of East Pratt Street. The 17-year-old boy died from his injuries, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during a press conference following the shooting.
At this point, police do not know if the two teenagers were the intended targets or even there at the harbor together, Harrison said.
Harrison told reporters that officers were in the area at the time of the shooting.
"There were about 20 officers in this very area," Harrison said. "They were in the block when this happened and arrived at the victims in seconds."
The large police presence in a popular part of downtown Baltimore did not deter the shooter, Harrison said. There were 20 officers in the area at the time of the shooting, he said.
The Baltimore Police Department plans to have a similar number of officers in the downtown area over the remainder of the holiday weekend, he said. But the number of officers deployed in the area is not the main issue, Harrison said.
"This is about them doing this right in front of the police," he said. "So this is about their bad decision to do this in spite of police officers. So it's a bigger conversation than deployment."
Harrison described the death of the teen as an "unnecessary tragedy."
"It's about young people carrying guns; young people with the willingness to use those guns indiscriminately in crowds," he said. "It's about parents not knowing where the young people are and what they're involved in. It is about them having a total disregard for human life and a total lack of respect and disregard for authority and law enforcement—who was right here in the very block where this happened. And so we have to deal with these issues."
Anyone with information about the shooting can call detectives at 410-396-2411 or they can contact Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7lockup.
