There have been 10 murders in Baltimore City in the span of the last week. Count them, 10 murders ("Man stabbed to death outside Health Care for the Homeless," May 4). Homicide is a malicious, unstoppable beast in our city. While the mayor and police commissioner attempted to keep the city from unraveling last week, while the residents were walking on eggshells, Baltimore kept killing, and the city is dying a slow, agonizing death.
Why? Because the police and politicians do not know how to stop the pattern of genocide which has positioned itself like a dark cloud over Baltimore, and the cloud is not moving any time soon.
I suppose we are collectively guilty of temporarily putting the specter of homicide on the back burner last week as our city was struggling to gain a semblance of civility and order. Sadly, the fact is that jerks with guns still have carte blanche to rule the streets here. Do we need more in your face proof of that than to look at the city police blotter from last week?
It is a reminder that, despite the fact that the entire world was watching Baltimore burn last week, the homicidal carnage goes unabated. I say with much sadness that Baltimore — long after the name Freddie Gray is not on the tip of our tongues — will still be a very scary place to live or work.
The genocidal pattern, if unchecked, can and will bring Baltimore to its knees. Pray for our city.
Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham