Amid slayings, a call for change

The Baltimore Sun

As another bloody weekend in Baltimore drew to a close, leaving four men dead and at least four others wounded in shootings, councilman and mayoral candidate Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. stood in front of the city's Circuit Courthouse to decry the violence and vow to improve Baltimore's Police Department.

"There is a crisis strangling our city," he said, a small band of supporters, including police officers, standing behind him. "Enough is enough."

The weekend mayhem included an unidentified 18-year-old man who was shot dead in the 2100 block of Koko Lane shortly before midnight yesterday.

Also last night, a man was shot to death about 10:30 p.m. in the 5700 block of Radecke Ave. in Northeast Baltimore.

In the other shootings, a man was fatally shot in the head Saturday night in the 2800 block of Boarman Ave., said police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe, and a man was fatally shot about 4 a.m. yesterday at North Avenue and Gay Street.

In the Radecke Avenue shooting, one other man was injured; his condition was unavailable.

About midnight Saturday, shots fired in the 1500 block of Lester Morton Court left three men with arm and leg injuries. All three are expected to survive, Monroe said.

"It just shows there is a culture of violence plaguing our city," Mitchell said.

His news conference followed The Sun's publication of the results from a poll showing that a majority of Baltimore residents believe crime is the most important challenge facing the city and that crime is hurting the city's economy.

Mitchell has previously called for the city to hire an additional 250 police officers and give a 15 percent across-the-board salary increase for police officers.

Yesterday, he accused Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon of moving too slowly to address the city's crime problem. "How long does it take for us to make real changes in the Police Department?" he asked.

Last week, Dixon unveiled a plan for enhancing police recruitment. She has said the salary increase Mitchell is proposing is financially unrealistic.

Dixon's spokesman Anthony McCarthy said the mayor shares residents' concerns about crime and is working to address the violence in the city. In seven months in office, she has made progress, McCarthy said, pointing out that overall violent crime is down 17 percent this year and the number of complaints against the Police Department are down.

Robert Cherry, vice president of Baltimore's Fraternal Order of Police, attended Mitchell's news conference yesterday, though his organization has not endorsed a mayoral candidate.

"Morale in the Police Department is at the lowest it has been in decades," Cherry said. "Most of that is attributable to lack of leadership both in the command staff and in City Hall."

Since Jan. 1, there have been 173 homicides in the city. The crime rate in the city is on pace to surpass 300 homicides by the end of the year for the first time since the 1990s.

rona.marech@baltsun.com

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