Another killing in Baltimore; man slain in Penn North

. He cited some statistics, which do not include shootings or other mayhem that occurred overnight:

Because of a similar rash of shootings last year — 18 people were shot the weekend of March 20, 2011 — shootings are down compared with last year, with 72 shot this year compared to 76 at this time in 2011.

Data provided at a meeting of criminal justice leaders last week showed that 90 people had been shot or killed as of March 12, the most since 2009 but half as many as in 2007, when 175 people had been shot or killed at that point.

Few details were immediately available about the latest slaying. It occurred about 11:33 p.m. at Etting and Traction streets, in the Penn North neighborhood about two blocks north of West North Avenue, and two blocks east of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police said this morning that the victim was a 24-year-old man. A police officer responding to calls for a shooting found him lying in the intersection with a single gunshot wound to the head, according to police.

He was pronounced dead at 12:39 a.m. at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.