Two Dead, 11 Injured In Multiple Shootings, Stabbings 23 May 2007

From wbaltv.com (Channel 11 News):

BALTIMORE — Baltimore City police said two people were killed and 11 people were injured in a series of shootings and stabbings throughout Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.Police said the violence started late Tuesday afternoon with a double shooting on East Fayette Street. They said one man was killed and another was injured by gunfire.

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What. The. Fuck.

Last night was insanely violent, even by Baltimore standards. 11 shootings and stabbings in one night wouldn’t be that jaw-dropping, however, if not for the location of some of these attacks:

In addition, four shooting victims were found along Mount Royal Avenue in two separate areas. Police said two men were discovered at Guilford Avenue and Mount Royal Avenue — one with gunshot wounds to the hip and the other is in critical condition with a gunshot wounds to the groin and head.

That intersection—the corner of Guilford and Mount Royal—is barely a block from my old building. I didn’t have any illusions about the neighborhood I was living in… occasionally we would hear gunshots from over on the other side of Greenmount Ave., and I knew people had been mugged walking to and from the building late at night. But this… well, it would be bad enough, but one could rationalize that that intersection is right next to the bridges that separate the gentrified neighborhoods from the blighted ones. The next one, however…

Police also found two more victims at Mount Royal Avenue and St. Paul Street. One man was shot in the back and the other was shot in the thigh. Both men were taken to Shock Trauma.

This intersection, just north of Mount Vernon, is well-lit, almost always busy, a block from Penn Station, and there’s a 24-hour BP station on the southwest corner. More worrisome (to me), is that it’s exactly one block from my school. Those shootings happened a block from the computer lab where I’m currently typing this post.

Here’s a Google Map of the shootings in relation to my school and former building.

Now, I’m no wuss; I’ve lived in Baltimore a long time, I’ve never been mugged or beaten or anything else, half because I don’t let myself look like an easy mark, and half because I’m just damn lucky. But I have had friends who weren’t so lucky, and I’ve seen the aftermath of shootings (in a city with 300 of them a year, it’d be kinda hard to miss). A block from my school is just a bit too close to home… er, ah… school.

And, to top it all off:

Police also reported a man was shot in the wrist and arm in the 300 block of Eutaw Street around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The 300 block of Eutaw Street is right outside of Candice’s work. Luckily, she got off early that night, and had just left the area when the shooting took place. A few more minutes either way, and who knows…

Like I said, I’m not a wuss about this stuff… but despite the staggering homicide rate, I usually brag to my friends about how safe Baltimore really is (if you’re not involved a black-market economy). This time, though… damn.

Thanks to Baltimore Crime for originally bringing this story to my attention. The Baltimore Crime posting is linked here.