As an activist against police brutality, Ray Kelly of Sandtown knows that not all law enforcement officers are the same.
After a week that began with police killing two black men in separate incidents in Louisiana and Minnesota and ended with an African-American gunman fatally shooting five officers in Dallas, Kelly hopes the sentiment is reciprocated.
"We can't let that one person, the smallest percentage of our community, define how we're perceived," said Kelly, a leader of the No Boundaries Coalition, an advocacy group from West Baltimore neighborhoods.
"That's just one person," Kelly said of Micah Xavier Johnson.
Dallas authorities said Johnson, 25, an Army veteran, opened fire Thursday night out of anger toward white officers in the wake of deadly police shootings of black civilians. Johnson targeted officers on duty at a large peaceful demonstration to protest the deaths at the hands of police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn.
Captured in viral videos that were shown repeatedly on national television, the incidents resonated deeply in Baltimore, where tensions have run high since Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died in April 2015, a week after suffering a severe spinal injury in the back of a police van.
The incidents could also shift or refocus debates on gun control and criminal justice reform and the Black Lives Matter movement, which has staged protests across the country against police brutality.
DeRay Mckesson, a Black Lives Matter activist who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Baltimore mayor, said he is confident that protesters will remain firm in their resolve. A protest Friday night in McKeldin Square drew about 200 people.
"The people across the movement remain focused on ending violence. The movement has been and will continue to be about ending violence," said Mckesson, who offered his "condolences and prayers" for the dead Dallas officers and their families.
Police said more must be done to protect them. Vince Canales, president of the Maryland lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said officers are concerned about situations in which shooters have more firepower and equipment than law enforcement.
In the wake of the Dallas killings, the union plans to urge Maryland lawmakers to pass legislation making attacks on police because of their job a hate crime. "We would argue that that bill should move forward," Canales said.
It was with sinking hearts, but also a sense of resolve, that some in Baltimore watched events unfold elsewhere in the country last week. While the city continues to grapple with the fallout from Gray's death, they noted progress in repairing police-community relations here.
"We want to keep the momentum going in the relationships we've been building. That's what we want to focus on," said Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith. "There are going to be bumps in the road, big bumps in the road. It's going to take time to repair the damage of many years, but we're making continuous progress. We don't want to let anything disrupt our momentum."
Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the city's NAACP chapter, noted the meetings that Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has held with community and church groups and that police vans now are equipped with cameras. She hopes Baltimore won't suffer a setback.
"We think we're making strides," she said. "Then one police officer does something, and we are back where we were before."
She said Baltimore has moved faster than other cities because Gray's death galvanized efforts.
"The people working here are positive; we're working for reform," Hill-Aston said, adding that though "Baltimore is improving, we still have a long way to go with the police."
Kelly said he sees little progress in the 18 months since the unrest following Gray's death.
"There's still no police accountability," he said. "The frustrations are mounting from where they were a couple years ago."
The repercussions from Gray's death continue today.
A week after rioting, looting and violence broke out on the day of Gray's funeral, six Baltimore officers were charged in his arrest and death. Two officers have been acquitted, one officer's trial ended in a hung jury, and a third is on trial in Baltimore Circuit Court. City leaders say police are still hesitant to do their jobs.
The city is also awaiting the results of a Justice Department civil rights investigation of the Baltimore police force. Justice officials began reviewing the Police Department in 2014, after a Baltimore Sun investigation revealed that the city had paid millions of dollars in judgments and settlements of more than 100 lawsuits alleging police brutality and other misconduct. The Justice Department later expanded its review into a full-scale civil rights probe.
Activists are focused on getting civilians appointed to police trial boards that determine discipline for officers. In Baltimore, that will have to be negotiated with the police union.
Meanwhile, last week's deaths could renew debate over police accountability and gun control, issues that Maryland lawmakers have grappled with for years.
Some Republicans worry that the shootings in Dallas will inspire efforts to expand a landmark 2013 Maryland gun-control law that banned the sale of assault-type weapons and oversize magazines and required licenses for handgun buyers.
"I truly believe that what you're going to see is more gun-control measures in Annapolis," said Del. John W.E. Cluster Jr., a Baltimore County Republican. He said gun control misses the mark in dealing with problems that are more about police-community relations than firearms.
State Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, who chairs the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said he is looking at measures that could achieve a bipartisan consensus, such as keeping firearms out of the hands of mentally ill or dangerous people.
"I think everybody certainly can agree on that," the Baltimore County Democrat said.
Zirkin said the state legislature would continue to reform the criminal justice system. This year, lawmakers passed legislation dealing with police recruitment, training and discipline, as well as an overhaul of laws governing crime and punishment.
"It is not going to interrupt the bipartisan and comprehensive work we're already engaged in," he said.
Del. Erek L. Barron, a Prince George's County Democrat and former prosecutor, said Maryland still has much to do on criminal justice. He also said lawmakers would be monitoring the implementation of the police training bill, which emphasized de-escalation of confrontations.
In the Baton Rouge incident, officers shot Sterling, who had a gun in his pocket, while holding him on the ground. In Minnesota, police officers stopped Castile on a routine traffic stop and one shot him, saying he went for his gun. His girlfriend said he was taking out his identification after informing the officer he was armed.
"I hear, 'I can be doing everything right and still be victimized,'" Barron said, referring to reaction to Castile's death. In video of Sterling's death, he said, "I didn't see any de-escalation at all."
Aisha Braveboy, a former Prince George's County delegate who ran for attorney general in 2014, said it is critical that police "not bring their own biases into how they do their jobs."
"Racism is insidious, and it makes people do things that are not rational," she said.
Some fear that the two shooting deaths of black men and the attacks on police in Dallas will only stoke tensions, and in turn prompt police to be more careful and perhaps too cautious.
"Things happen when the police and the people are on edge. ... Things happen that shouldn't happen," said Cluster, a retired police officer. "You're going to see officers taking less chances on the street, which means they'll do things a lot slower and by the book."
The recent spate of violence elicited a range of reactions.
State Sen. Michael J. Hough, a Frederick County Republican, referred to the Dallas attacks when reiterating his stance that Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby should dismiss the remaining charges against city officers in Gray's death. He also said that he was troubled by video of Sterling's death.
"You get to watching it," Hough said, "and it looks bad."
Some said the incidents were all too familiar.
"Does this mean anything different for Maryland? No, because Maryland has been on the forefront of all of these problems," said Del. Curt Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the city's House delegation.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this article.