Monday night mayhem in Baltimore with nine people shot, three killed as shootings keep rocking the city

The shots could be heard from behind the protective Plexiglas.

An employee at the Spot Mini Mart on Quantico Avenue in Baltimore listened as a gunmen fired upon a group of people standing outside the shop Monday evening.

“I heard maybe seven or more," said the employee who asked not to be identified, citing safety concerns. "I was scared.”

She wasn’t alone. The quadruple shooting left a 25-year-old man dead from a gunshot to the head, and three others wounded, including a 17-year-old boy, a 26-year-old woman, and a 22-year-old man. Baltimore Police said the shooting was one of several overnight Monday, with three people being killed among the nine gunshot victims.

Police spokesman Matt Jablow called the spate of violence “deeply disturbing.”

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Police records show that 283 people have been killed in the city so far this year, up from 258 at the same time last year. Another 663 have been wounded in shootings, compared to 553 at this time last year.

“It’s extremely distributing to have that much violence," especially “shootings in the middle of the street," said City Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer, who chairs the council’s public safety committee.

Schleifer said he went to the Quantico Avenue scene Monday night and later to the Northwestern District office to discuss the violence with the captain of the district.

Police said two gunmen fired at people outside the corner store and then fled. Police have not yet released the name of the man who was killed. The others injuries were not life-threatening, they said.

[ [Baltimore Homicides Database] ]

“It’s all under investigation. It appears that the situations were targeted," the councilman said. “We’re just repeatedly seeing the same trigger pullers wreaking havoc on our communities. It just needs to stop."

Schleifer said the department must work on improving its clearance rates — when a suspect is arrested in a shooting.

“Over the past couple of years, the clearance rates have decreased and the crime has increased," he said. “What that tells us is that we have to keep clearing more cases."

Schleifer said police have cleared 35% of all murders this year, compared with 45% at this time last year.

Police initially thought there were five victims of the mini-mart shooting, after a 22-year-old woman showed up at Sinai Hospital just before 8 p.m. with gunshot wounds to her chest.

Detectives later learned that she was shot in a separate incident in the 5200 block of Fairlawn Avenue in an area of auto body shops. The woman, who has been identified as Keiosha Moore, died at the hospital. Her family members did not respond to a request for comment.

Several hours later, officers responded to the 4700 block of Liberty Heights Ave. just after 1 a.m. Tuesday where they found four injured people, including three suffering gunshot wounds.

Police spokesman detective Jeremy Silbert said Donnell Dixon, who just turned 19 this month, died in that incident and two others were injured by gunfire. Silbert said a woman suffered an injury to her leg trying to escape, but he didn’t have further details.

Dixon’s family could not be reached.

There was a third shooting in the city’s northwest just before 5 p.m. Monday when a 27-year-old man was shot in the 4400 block of Garrison Boulevard. Police said the man was shot in the left thigh and foot and is expected to survive.

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Witnesses reported seeing a gray or blue sedan speeding away from the scene, police said.

Jablow said investigations from Monday are ongoing as detectives explore possible connections between the incidents. He said detectives have not yet determined a motive in any of the shootings.

“Many of our special operations units, including SWAT and canine are being sent to Northwest,” he said. “We are more committed than ever to making Baltimore a safer city.”

On Tuesday, an officer in a marked police car sat outside the Spot Mini Mart on Quantico Avenue, as a few shoppers entered the store for cigarettes. A commander in an unmarked police SUV drove past the store and told a uniformed officer to get out of his car and walk through the neighborhood.

The employee said she has worked at the corner store for three years and that she’s heard gunfire two other times, but she added the street is mostly quiet.

Outside, a small strip of yellow police tape remained. A rowhome across the street appeared to have been long boarded up and covered in vines. Another nearby home was decorated for Halloween.

Anyone with information about the homicides is asked to call detectives at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7lockup.

Originally Published: Oct 30, 2019 at 5:00 am