Surge of violence in Baltimore continues, with fatal shootings in Federal Hill and East Baltimore/Midway

By Phil Davis @ BaltimoreSun.com, Sept. 14

A surge of violence in Baltimore that started Labor Day weekend has despaired residents and drawn consternation from officials. And it continued unabated into a new week, with fatal shootings in locations from Federal Hill Park to East Baltimore/Midway.

The fatal shootings of a 39-year-old man at the popular park overlooking the Inner Harbor and another man in the 2300 block of Homewood Ave., as wall as the nonfatal shootings of three other people, mean that at least 52 people have been shot in a nine-day span, 14 of them fatally,

“People just want to be able to wake up and go to work and not have to worry about it,” said Tim Hearn, a property manager in the Federal Hill area who was walking his dog in the park Monday morning, after the fatal shooting there about 11 p.m. Sunday.

The shooting, he said, will “heighten the concerns residents have had over the past three to four years.”

“I don’t know what could be done about it,” Hearn lamented.

Baltimore Police officials did not reply to multiple requests for comment about the spate of shootings.

However, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison sounded a familiar refrain on WBAL radio Monday morning.

“We have to change that culture of violence, but we have to do a better job of figuring out how to interrupt these violent interactions before they happen," Harrison said. "But that takes a great deal of intelligence and community support to feed that information to us so we can be in the right place and be with the right people.”

City Council President Brandon Scott said the recent violence has “horrific” and pointed at failed city leadership and the absence of a comprehensive crime plan.

“These aren’t numbers,” Scott said. “These are people. These are mothers and fathers who have lost their sons and daughters, and sons and daughters who have lost their parents.”

The Democratic nominee for Baltimore mayor said he spoke with police leadership earlier Monday and emphasized the need to intercede with violence immediately and identify the people who they “know are committing violent crimes.”

“We know violent crime in Baltimore can be curbed,” Scott said. “What’s lacking is the leadership and focus on how to do it.”

A spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young did not respond Monday to a request for comment [....]