A man arrested on Monday who police said was carrying a loaded revolver has now been charged in one of the Memorial Day weekend killings that left 10 dead over four days.
Shawn Demetrice Jones, 18, is charged in the shooting death of Davon Dorsey, also 18, who was killed in the 400 block of N. Rose St. on Saturday (part of a street-corner memorial in pictures at top). That shooting occurred 45 minutes after another fatal shooting a few blocks away on East Monument Street, and police later said they believed the two were related and tied to gangs.
The victims, Rose Street's Dorsey and Monument Street's Timothy Gaskins, 22, were believed to be members of the Lueders Park Piru, a Bloods set whose name draws on its Los Angeles roots, law enforcement sources told the Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton. Police believe the suspected shooter is affiliated with the Crips gang, sources said.
Jones was arrested on Monday in the 400 block of N. Lakewood Ave., a few blocks from both shooting scenes. Police have said it's possible the same shooter is responsible for both slayings, but so far Jones has been charged in only one of the cases.
The shootings occurred in McElderry Park, where Operation Safe Streets works. This is an organization of former gang members who work to mediate disputes before they erupt in violence. On Tuesday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said he was most concerned about the killings here because his officers have focused efforts on these streets.
"The Monument Street cases certainly have us evaluating what we could have done better," Bealefeld said. "When you have two street disturbances, two street fights that lead to two deaths within an hour of each other and with one common suspect, there's some breakdowns there."