A man was shot in the back yesterday afternoon on an East Baltimore street, a block from the scene of a fatal shooting over the weekend.

Police had not identified the victim or provided his condition by press time, but police said detectives are investigating the possibility that the two shootings are linked and that a third, about which they provided no details, might also be connected.

Yesterday's shooting occurred about 3 p.m. in the 1600 block of E. 25th St., about 50 paces from a memorial to Ronald Crowell, 22, who was killed early Saturday on Normal Avenue.

At a candlelight vigil Saturday night to commemorate Crowell, family members asked young men to put down their guns.

"It's our family today; it might be yours tomorrow," Deborah Leach, Cowell's great-aunt, said during the vigil, The Sun reported yesterday.

Joyce Matthews, another great-aunt, said she thinks the two shootings are connected.

"This is an ongoing situation," she said. "You have to be a part of the neighborhood." She would not be more specific.

Matthews said she doesn't think the violence will end and that she worries for the man who was shot yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon, neighbors seemed to be reluctant to talk with a reporter about the most recent shooting.

"I don't pay any attention to these kids," said a man who lives in a house between the sites of the two shootings.