Baltimore mass shooting leaves 2 dead; half of 28 injured were children

BALTIMORE July 3 (BNA): A mass shooting early Sunday morning at an outdoor party in Baltimore, Maryland, left two people dead and 28 injured, half of them children, as investigators sought the public’s help in tracking down several people. said the police.

Reuters reported that authorities provided no motive for the gun violence, which broke out around 12:35 a.m. local time in a courtyard of grass and sidewalks between two two-story buildings in the Brooklyn Homes community in South Baltimore.

Police only identified the two people killed in the hail of gunfire as an 18-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man. Police told reporters that as of Sunday afternoon, nine injured people were still in hospital, with a few in critical condition.

Of the 28 survivors who were injured, 14 were under the age of 18, said Richard Worley, acting Baltimore Police Commissioner, noting that they were still trying to confirm the ages of the victims.

Baltimore television station WBAL-TV, an NBC affiliate, reported that the ages of the injured ranged from 13 to 32.

The shooting likely ranks as the largest single act of gun violence in Baltimore by number of victims dating back to 2014, according to The Baltimore Sun, citing the oldest data held by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

The scale of the carnage was remarkable even for a city that had long suffered high levels of murder and other violence.

Worley said police were looking for several suspects, and he appealed to the community to come forward with any information or videos that might help investigators identify the perpetrators.

“We know for sure there was more than one. We don’t know how many (suspects),” Worley said.

A neighborhood resident, Terry Brown, told the Baltimore Sun that he was standing outside his house when he heard gunfire, followed by a stampede of people running in a panic for cover.

“It was a mess,” Brown said. “Parents were running around looking for their children, screaming and yelling, not knowing if their child had been shot.”

Mayor Brandon Scott called the shooting a reckless and cowardly act, “and vowed to bring those responsible to justice. We will not stop until we find you, and we will.”

Tragedy rocked Baltimore, Maryland’s most populous city, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., at the start of the Fourth of July weekend, a time when Americans typically gather for parades, barbecues and fireworks.

Local media reported that hundreds attended the “Brooklyn Day” party, which included pony rides, dancing and refreshments.

MI