BALTIMORE — Baltimore's embattled young mayor said Monday he "doesn't have the luxury of caring" where a homicide happens, even if that killing occurs at the city's iconic tourist hub.
Police say a 17-year-old boy was killed and a teen girl was wounded when a shooting broke out at the city's crowded Inner Harbor amphitheater around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
There were no arrests despite at least 20 officers who had deployed to the area as part of the Baltimore Police Department's effort to suppress crime during the Memorial Day weekend, according to police commissioner Michael Harrision.
Officers on foot were the first to respond to the shooting, Harrision said. The death was one of four homicides that occurred in the city on the first two days of the holiday weekend.
On Monday, 38-year-old Mayor Brandon Scott reacted to the Inner Harbor murder by pointing out that crime is affecting a wide area of the city including the killing of a woman early Sunday on the south edge of the city.
"I don't have the luxury of caring just because it happened in the Inner Harbor," Scott said. "That young man lost his life at the Inner Harbor. A young lady lost her life in South Baltimore. They are equal to me."
With summer on and gas prices high, a lot of D.C.-area residents look to Baltimore for a colorful day-trip getaway that’s easy on the wallet. But the city is suffering through a crime wave that’s become a major issue in Maryland’s upcoming gubernatorial election.
Former Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker is promising to declare a state of emergency and move the Governor's office to Baltimore if he is elected. Current Governor Larry Hogan sent a scorching letter to mayor Scott last week demanding a plan in writing for suppressing crime with state money.
So far in 2022, 137 people have died from homicide in the city. In 2021 the death toll was 338. A decade before in 2011, only 197 people were killed.
The murder count took a sharp spike upward in 2015, the year rioters took to the streets after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Six police officers were charged but none were convicted.
Mayor Scott called crime a national problem and said shootings in high-profile tourist areas are not unique to the city.
Baltimore has the 2nd highest per capita murder rate in the nation. By contrast, D.C. is 13th with a per capita murder rate that is less than half of Baltimore's.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the country joined the March for Our Lives after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida four years ago.