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Baltimore Block Party Tragedy: 2 Killed, 28 Wounded in Mass Shooting

Jasmeen Kaur
Baltimore Block Party Tragedy

Officials in Baltimore have confirmed that two people, an 18-year-old lady and a 20-year-old male, were murdered and 28 others were injured in a shooting at a block party. Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley announced at a press conference on Sunday that all 30 victims had been shot. According to Worley, their ages range from thirteen to thirty-two.

Police in Baltimore, Maryland, have named the two victims as Aaliyah Gonzales, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20. The police said in a statement late Sunday that 15 of the injured were minors under the age of 18. The nine injured people were still being treated at local hospitals “in various conditions” as of Sunday afternoon, the commissioner said.

Authorities have asked anyone with knowledge or who may have caught video footage, especially from security cameras, to come forward as they continue to examine the enormous crime scene, which spans numerous blocks. Worley added that “at least two” shooters were involved, however investigators are looking into the possibility of more. The authorities have been mum on any possible explanations.

“All we know right now is that we had multiple (shooters) open fire on a large crowd of people who were out during the block party. We don’t know if they were targeted or if (the shooters) were just shooting indiscriminately down the street,” Worley said.

The tweet below verifies the news:

This tragedy, in which lives were lost and others were profoundly transformed, is only the latest example of a joyous occasion becoming tragic. At a press conference on Sunday, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott remarked, “This is a reminder of the deadly consequences of firearms falling into the wrong hands.”

“This was a reckless, cowardly act of violence that has taken two lives and altered many, many more,” the mayor said. “This tragic incident is another glaring, unfortunate example of the deep issues of violence in Baltimore, in Maryland and this country and particularly gun violence and the access to illegal guns.”

Already there have been three mass shootings in July, and 338 are predicted for the United States in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Amid a Celebration, gunshots rang out

Worley said early on Sunday that after 12:30 a.m., police responded to many calls and found a dead woman and several others with gunshot wounds. According to authorities, the 18-year-old was pronounced dead at the spot, while the 20-year-old died later in the hospital.

Scott explained that the party was held to honor the working-class Brooklyn section of Baltimore, a place where residents take great pride in their community. “It’s an event that happens in Brooklyn every year,” he told CNN’s Victor Blackwell and Amara Walker. “Folks were out there having a celebration and then at some point, gunshots rang out and folks of course were trying to get away, get out of there.”

Scott has said that his office is sending out letters to residents of the Brooklyn Homes public housing complex, offering them access to community-based programs. “It is a neighborhood that has had its troubles, but a neighborhood that has seen some folks in that community really determined to see it be successful and see things turn around,” he added.

Phylicia Porter, a city councilwoman in Baltimore, said the neighborhood where the shooting occurred has high percentages of both unemployment and violent crime. “Brooklyn has forever and always been a neglected community. This is not the time for us to forget them now, this is the time for us to come together and stand in solidarity with them,” Porter said in the afternoon news conference.

According to Worley, the party was held without a license, and officials are currently looking into whether or not any police officers were there at the time of the incident and when they were made aware of the gathering. “If we made mistakes, we will fix them and move forward so it never happens again, but again, we did not know that this event was occurring,” he said.

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‘We Will not Stop Until we Find You’

Earlier, Scott said the tragedy “highlights the impacts and the need to deal with the overproliferation of illegal guns on our streets and the ability for those who should not have them to get their hands on them.” The mayor has also stated that he is putting in all efforts to facilitate the probe.

In a nutshell, he told the offender, “We will not stop until we find you – and we will find you.” “Until then, I hope with every single breath that you take that you think about the lives that you took and you think about the lives that you impacted here tonight,” he added. Wes Moore, governor of Maryland, has indicated his administration is in touch with local officials and prepared to help.

“Maryland has had enough of watching gun violence continue to ravage our state and our nation,” Moore said in a statement. “The fact that these horrific shootings continue to take place is abominable. We as a state will continue to do everything we can to prevent senseless acts of violence like the one we saw last night.”

According to court filings, Moore was sued by the National Rifle Association after he signed the Gun Safety Act of 2023 and other gun safety regulations into law in May.

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