Baltimore has registered a grim new record in its crime statistics. Over the holiday weekend, the city suffered its 343rd homicide of the year, surpassing its previous high of 342 and setting a new record for killings per capita.
After seeing declining numbers, homicides began to increase dramatically in 2015 following the infamous case of Freddie Gray, which some blame for encouraging a more “hands off” approach by law enforcement.
“Baltimore police recorded the 343rd homicide of the year Saturday with the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man in the Belair-Edison neighborhood,” The Baltimore Sun reports. “Shortly before 11 p.m., city officers found the man lying in the 4300 block of Dudley Ave. in an area south of Belair Road and two blocks from Herring Run Park. The man had been shot multiple times and later died in an area hospital.”
The outlet notes that the murder followed just two days without a fatal shooting in the city. The previous murder took place Thursday night.
As The Associated Press details, with its 343rd fatal shooting of the year, the city has now officially reached “a historically high homicide rate.”
“With just over 600,000 residents, the city hit a historically high homicide rate of about 57 per 100,000 people after recent relentless gunfire saw eight people shot — three fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day,” AP reported Friday. “The new rate eclipses that of 1993, when the city had a record 353 killings but was much more populous before years of population exodus.”
To highlight how dire the situation is in Baltimore, AP notes that New York City, which has a population of over 8 million compared to Baltimore’s 600,000 residents, had recorded 306 homicides through Dec. 15.
Baltimore’s previous record for the number of homicides in a year was 342, the number fatally shot in the city in both 2017 and 2015. Beginning in 2015, the city has recorded at least 300 homicides per year.
After seeing a decline in the murder rate, killings spiked dramatically in 2015, the same year that Freddie Gray, an African American Baltimore resident, died while in police custody. Gray’s death caused a massive uproar in the city, sparking protests and riots, in which police were reportedly told by the mayor to “stand down.” Fox News reported at the time:
Despite a firm denial by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a senior law enforcement source charges that she gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night, raising more questions about whether some of the violence and looting could have been prevented.
The source, who is involved in the enforcement efforts, confirmed to Fox News there was a direct order from the mayor to her police chief Monday night, effectively tying the hands of officers as they were pelted with rocks and bottles.
Asked directly if the mayor was the one who gave that order, the source said: “You are God damn right it was.”
Many have blamed the fallout of the case for the increase in crime in the city, maintaining that the backlash against the police and the pressure from elected officials has resulted in a more “hands off” approach by officers.
Others, as AP explains, have blamed the spike in crime as the result of a confluence of factors, including access to illegal guns, the opioid epidemic, social inequalities, lack of jobs, and political incompetence.
H/T Jazz Shaw