For the first time in nearly a decade, gun-related violence in Baltimore dropped significantly in 1994, prompting hopes that after years of growing carnage, the face of violence here may be changing.
Homicides dipped from 353 in 1993 to 321 last year. In the first nine months of the year, the number of shootings fell precipitously from 1,880 to 1,271.
In addition, overall violent crime dropped 3.7 percent during the first 10 months of 1994, the most recent statistics available.
Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier views the decline in shootings as an important indicator that violence in the city is starting to ebb. In a city reeling from two straight years of record slayings, the decrease is welcome relief to city leaders and to Mr. Frazier, who believes that the homicide tide was stemmed, at least in part, by the drug raids he ordered in violent neighborhoods last year.
Mr. Frazier, who estimates that two-thirds of Baltimore's slayings are drug-related, said the raids "helped take violent offenders off the street."
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke remains appalled at the propensity for self-inflicted violence by blacks here and nationwide. In a city that is 60 percent African-American, blacks account for 90 percent of the homicide victims and 96 percent of the homicide suspects.
"Black-on-black crime continues to be a real problem in our community," the mayor said. "We are doing more harm to ourselves than was ever contemplated during the era of segregation.
"We have inflicted more pain on ourselves than the Klan did during the worst periods."
Nationally, violent crime also showed a decline. The most recent FBI statistics indicate violent crime fell 4 percent in the first six months of 1994. Homicides dropped 2 percent.
As in Baltimore, many explanations are offered for the crime drop. They range from changing demographics to more aggressive police tactics to more involvement from community residents.
Joan McCord, a professor of criminal justice at Temple University in Philadelphia, believes that the combination of a fall in homicides and in shootings suggests that Baltimore may be experiencing a true drop in crime rather than a statistical aberration. But she counsels that the situation in Baltimore needs more study.
"That [the dual decline] is a pretty good indication that you are having a real reduction in crime," said Professor McCord, who continues to assess the dip in crime reflected by the FBI reports nationally.
Mr. Schmoke and Mr. Frazier said they believe that last year's raids played a significant role in the declining violence in the city. In the past, Baltimore police concentrated on arresting street dealers and users while in 1994 they zeroed in on the most violent of criminals.
At his confirmation hearing in February, Mr. Frazier listened to a barrage of criticism of police indifference and ineffectiveness from City
Council members who charged that the department ignored obvious crimes and allowed violence to occur night after night in poor black neighborhoods.
The commissioner said he has been targeting open-air drug markets, where violent individuals regularly congregate. In three raids, the first one in March, hundreds of heavily armed police officers were sent into three neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore, arresting hundreds of drug suspects -- many with preset bails of up to $1 million.
"I think [the City Council] knew, as I knew, that the source of a lot of the street homicides is outright robberies for drugs or money," Mr. Frazier said. "That had to be our No. 1 priority. . . . It was clear to me and to the mayor that it was the most important issue facing the city."
Statistics from two of the East Baltimore communities targeted by police show crime decreased by about 35 percent in the months after the raids in those areas, compared with the corresponding periods in 1993.
For example, only one homicide was reported in the Middle East -- the area around Johns Hopkins Hospital -- between the time the raids commenced in July through November. During those months in 1993, eight slayings were reported in the area.
"All these high-profile drug sweeps are giving people the impression that there is something new happening," said Councilman Martin O'Malley.
"For two years, homicides were up and there was no change in strategy. Now there is a change in strategy and homicides are down," he said.
Programs designed to stop the killing also abounded last year, including a gun turn-in day at 7-Eleven stores, a new curfew law and a revitalization effort spearheaded by Johns Hopkins Hospital to redevelop the inner-city neighborhood it calls home.
Also, the city was designated an empowerment zone, netting a $100 million federal grant that will be administered by a nonprofit corporation.
The grants, spread over several years, will pay for a variety of health, job training and economic development programs -- all of which are aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods and families.
Federal prosecutors also stepped up the fight in Baltimore.
In some high-profile cases, state murder charges against
defendants were dropped, and the U.S. attorney's office went after the accused on tough federal drug charges -- using the slayings as evidence to bolster its cases.
That tactic worked against Adewale "Jay" Aladekoba of the Jamaican Black Mafia, who received multiple, no-parole life terms last year for conspiring to distribute heroin in Baltimore housing projects.
It also was used in the case against Nathaniel J. Dawson, accused in the 1993 slaying of 10-year-old Tauris Johnson, who was caught between warring drug dealers while playing football in the street. The boy's death sparked passage of the city's curfew law. Dawson was convicted two months ago and is awaiting sentencing.
And it is not uncommon to see federal agents, including members of the Secret Service, on drug busts with city police officers -- part of joint task forces aimed at combining resources from government agencies.
"We are trying to bring down the organizations, not merely to try and pick off some of the members," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary P. Jordan, who said the federal government started targeting local violent drug offenders about 18 months ago, the height of Baltimore's most murderous two years.
Mr. Jordan said federal prosecutions can be beneficial because mandatory sentencing and no parole can keep those convicted behind bars for many years.
Ministers also have decided to take a more active role in helping to bring down violence in the city. The issue will be addressed Tuesday, when 250 to 300 pastors and Christian leaders are expected to attend a meeting to prepare for a September crusade called "Come Alive in '95."
Promoted by former Orioles outfielder Pat Kelly, the group wants to strengthen families, promote racial reconciliation, and fight crime and violence.
Also this month, doctors at Johns Hopkins Children's Center plan to hold a news conference to address the violence issue.
Despite the widespread efforts, some ministers and neighborhood leaders complain that too many people rarely give an inner-city slaying a second thought.
And some note that, despite the decline, the number of homicides is still among the highest in the city's history.
"It concerns me that if this was happening in any other county in Maryland -- if they had 300-some deaths -- it would be declared a state of emergency," said state Del. Elijah E. Cummings, a Democrat and chairman of the Governor's Commission on Black Males.
"[Yet,] funerals still go on, the mothers continue to cry, and their babies continue to die," Mr. Cummings said. "When we come to the point where we shout hurrah for 321 deaths, we have become a very sad society."
It is a thought echoed by the Rev. Frank Madison Reid, pastor of Bethel AME Church, who said it is too early to tell whether the reduction in homicides is a result of city policy or merely an "accident. . . . One life is a shame, but 300 lives is an epidemic."
Nationally, law enforcement officials said, homicide is the leading cause of death among black youths. The FBI estimates that 8,000 black males are killed each year in the United States -- 90 percent slain by other blacks.
"Black folks just have not gotten together to try and change things," said Willard W. Bryant, a Mass Transit Administration bus driver whose 19-year-old son, Tonnka Bryant, was shot fatally March 21 in Northwest Baltimore.
"Things need to be changed. All these black kids are getting killed, and no one ever thinks of it as a problem. If white kids were getting killed like this, we'd be under martial law," Mr. Bryant said.
Tonnka Bryant, a former all-star football player at Forest Park High School, was shot in an apparent robbery in a drug-trafficking area in the 5200 block of St. Charles Ave. Tonnka didn't have a criminal record, and his father said he didn't use drugs.
The teen-ager had scholarship offers to play football, his father said, from Bowie, Delaware State and Clemson universities. But he had chosen to stay in Baltimore for a year to work, be with his friends, and do weight training.
"I tried to warn him to stay away from the bad areas. He thought nobody would ever hurt him," Mr. Bryant said. "He'd say to me, 'Dad, you're so cynical.' "