There was pandemonium in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon after Police responded to the scene of a shooting that left one person dead and many injured and hospitalized.
The incident occurred on the 2100 block of West Lexington Street in southwest Baltimore. At least six people were shot, including four who were taken to the hospital before police arrived.
According to Police Commissioner; Michael Harrison, a Baltimore police officer happened to be near the scene when calls came in about the shooting, and he immediately arrived within about two minutes. The officer saw two victims and called for medical support for the victims. Both victims were taken to a local hospital. Police later learned that four other victims have been injured.
One of the victims has died from injuries while the other five are in either serious or critical condition.
“What we believe happened at this point is the six individuals were in the 2100 block together, and there were at least two or three other individuals walking up Smallwood, and when they got to the intersection of Smallwood and West Lexington began firing into the block at the victims,” Harrison said.
The suspects fled the area after the shooting. Police are asking members of the public to come forward with any information about the shooting and who might be responsible. Harrison called it a “brazen” and “cowardly” crime.
Dozens of officers arrived at the crime scene, which spanned at least three blocks, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Mayor Brandon Scott called the shooting an “unfortunate” chronic problem in the area, which he said West Baltimore cannot allow to continue. He said community members and people who have influence over young men should lift them uo be better and spoke against allowing people to be “so weak that they would shoot six people.”
“We also have to be better as a neighborhood while we continue to push our police and city agency to be better,” Scott said.
Harrison said that the people who committed the daytime shooting either don’t “fear” the consequences or suspect there will be none. The police commissioner said he was committed to holding the suspects responsible.