Violence in Baltimore has reached record levels: 45 people were killed in July, tying August 1972 for the most people killed in one month in the city’s modern history.
Every victim was male except one; every victim but two were black. The ages of the victims ranged from five months old to 53 years old. According to The Baltimore Sun, most of the killings occurred in “historically impoverished neighborhoods.”
City officials and police believe that several factors may have triggered the violence, including an internecine war within the Black Guerrilla Family gang as well as turbulence in the illegal drug trade after pharmacies were burgled in the riots after the death of Freddie Gray.
Capt. Donald Bauer, commander of the city homicide unit, told the Sun that the police department has dealt with over 215 killings this year, but police have solved more of them than in the same period of 2014. He added that roughly 25 percent of the 45 July cases have been solved.
As of August 30, 35 homicides had been committed in the last 30 days.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.