East Baltimore native the Rev. Dr. Andre Humphrey is used to his phone ringing when someone is shot in the city. Humphrey leads the Trauma Response Team, a group that offers grief counseling to Baltimore families in the immediate aftermath of violence.
Lately, Humphrey said, his work has been taking him again and again back to where he grew up.
"It's an epidemic," Humphrey said of spiking rates of gun violence in East Baltimore. "People are fearful."
Shootings, including homicides with firearms, are up 61 percent in the Eastern District through May 21 compared to the same period last year, according to police data. There were 58 shootings there by that date, compared to 36 last year. That's the biggest increase of any district in the city.
Homicides with firearms are also up significantly in the Eastern District. There were 18 there by May 21, compared to six by that date last year.
The rising gun violence in East Baltimore is apparent in a Baltimore Sun map of shootings in Maryland.
The interactive map depicts every shooting in the state that is recorded in two archives: Open Baltimore and the Gun Violence Archive, a national database assembled by a not-for-profit corporation. The two archives track shootings differently, and the Gun Violence Archive may not be comprehensive. But together they offer a nearly complete portrait of gun violence in Maryland.
Shootings throughout Baltimore have increased from last year. There have been 306 through May 21, compared to 264 at that point last year.
Yet while shootings have been climbing in East Baltimore, they've actually been dropping on the other side of the city.
The Western District saw 59 shootings through May 21. That's a 12 percent decrease compared to the same period last year — the largest drop of any district. That includes a slight decline in homicides with firearms.
Sandtown-Winchester, the West Baltimore neighborhood where crime rates spiked in the wake of Freddie Gray's death, actually saw shootings drop through May 21 compared to the same period last year: from 14 to 11.
Meanwhile, East Baltimore-Midway led city neighborhoods through May 21 in shootings as well as in homicides with firearms. The neighborhood saw 12 shootings by then, including four homicides with firearms — both increases over the neighborhood's numbers through May 21 last year.
Data indicates other East Baltimore neighborhoods have seen increases as well. Ten neighborhoods in the Eastern District that saw zero homicides with firearms by May 21 last year have already seen at least one this year, including Barclay, McElderry Park and Orangeville.
Meanwhile, other city neighborhoods have seen drops in shootings. Midtown-Edmondson had one by May 21, compared to 12 at that point last year.
"Retaliation," is how T.J. Smith, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, explained the increase in shootings in East Baltimore.
"We're not dealing with new people," he said. "When we see the names of our suspects and the names of our victims, it's the same crew."
Smith said that the department has responded to the rising violence in East Baltimore by sending more officers and other resources to the area.
City Councilman Carl Stokes, who represents part of East Baltimore, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Maceo Hallmon, director of the East Baltimore Youth and Family Services Bureau, said that an increase in the availability of firearms might be to blame.
"I think it has something to do with an influx of weapons," he said. "Everybody seems to have one or two, and in some cases more."
Hallmon added that unemployment and low education levels have long contributed to high crime rates citywide.
Humphrey said drug use and untreated mental health issues in poor neighborhoods exacerbate the issue. But he was unsure what is driving the recent spike in violence in East Baltimore.
"It just don't make sense," said Humphrey, whose own son was shot fatally in 1997.
"I'm hoping to see things change," Humphrey said. "But if they don't get a handle on it this summer, it's going to be terrible."