Baltimore had a “bright idea” to minimize crime and shootings… by asking everyone to NOT for an entire weekend and guess what!? It didn’t work… bu-bu-but they were ASKED not to!!!
“A 24-year-old man was shot in Pigtown, near Carroll Park, around 5 p.m. Saturday and pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center,” The Baltimore Sun reported Sunday. “A 37-year-old man was killed in a shooting in the 1600 block of Gertrude Street in Northwest Baltimore about 10 p.m. A nonfatal shooting occurred earlier in the afternoon in the 4800 block of Park Heights Avenue.”
Baltimore has been in the top tier of “murder capitals” in the United States and in 2016 more the city with more than 600,000 folks had 318 murders. This equates to 51.5 per 100,000 citizens… easily making this top the list. And this year alone they’re already at 210 two of which happened during their “Nobody Shoot Anybody” weekend.
Look… I get that the intent was good but asking criminals to just not be criminals isn’t going to work.
As reported by Baltimore Sun:
Organizers and supporters of a 72-hour Baltimore “ceasefire” initiative marched and prayed Saturday, even as they acknowledged that their fervent pleas for peace could not halt the relentless pace of shootings and killings in Baltimore.
On the second day of a community initiative aimed at stopping — or at least slowing — gun violence, Baltimoreans held vigils, cookouts and other events. Some stood on corners with signs reading “Baltimore Ceasefire” or “Free Hugs.”
But even as ceasefire events continued late Saturday afternoon and into the evening, police reported three shootings, two of them fatal.
A 24-year-old man was shot in Pigtown, near Carroll Park, around 5 p.m. Saturday and pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. A 37-year-old man was killed in a shooting in the 1600 block of Gertrude Street in Northwest Baltimore about 10 p.m. A nonfatal shooting occurred earlier in the afternoon in the 4800 block of Park Heights Avenue.
As they promised, however, Baltimore Ceasefire participants showed up at the fatal shooting at Sargeant and Carey streets to support neighbors, hugging and speaking to residents.
The Ceasefire volunteers were joined by a representative of Mayor Catherine Pugh, who listened to passionate pleas from residents to reopen a nearby recreation center to offer children a constructive place to spend their time.
“If you want to stop the killing, you need to open the rec centers. There’s nowhere else for these kids to go except the street,” said Nichole Dawkins, 47, who lives a block away from where the homicide took place. “We need more than just talk. We need action. You can’t lead kids to a rec center if it’s closed.”
Shuna Smith and her husband, Von Vargas, showed up at the scene with other Ceasefire participants and said they were sad about the killing but encouraged that it was the first in about 41 hours since the ceasefire officially began at midnight early Friday.
“We don’t know what we have prevented,” Smith said. “You can’t reach everyone at one time.”
