The Baltimore Sun reports in the week since protests turned into major riots, violent crime unrelated to the riots has gone up. Since last Tuesday, there have been eight murders and 12 shootings in the Maryland city that are completely unrelated to anything to do with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.
During the same period of time last year, there was one homicide and five shootings.
Police say that with the National Guard and police officers from other jurisdictions called in to police the riots, they have enough officers to take care of the day-to-day policing demands. This is confirmed by some residents in areas where the violence occurred who said police arrived at the scenes quickly.
Early Sunday morning, a man was shot in the head and killed in Northwest Baltimore on what has been described as a normally quiet street. A few hours earlier, a 25-year-old man was found in the driveway of a Baltimore home. He had been shot in the leg and shoulder. It is believed the shooting occurred outside of an empty house where drug activity was believed to have taken place.
Another Saturday night shooting resulted in a man being shot in the back.
On Friday morning, an employee of a corner store was shot and killed at the business located in Southeast Baltimore. Police are looking for two suspects.
Reality is that no one really cares about those who are shot and sometimes killed on the streets of Baltimore
Five people were shot in Baltimore in three incidents of violence on Thursday. Around noon, a 25-year-old man and a 23-year-old were found with gunshot wounds. The older man was shot in the head while the 23-year-old was shot in the stomach. The man shot in the head later died from his injuries.
Six hours later, a 19-year-old was found with a gunshot wound to the neck and a 20-year-old had been shot in the abdomen. Both men were taken to hospital for treatment. Around 8:30 pm, a 19-year-old man was shot in the back. This shooting occurred in an area where the van transporting Freddie Gray had made a stop.
On Thursday, police announced the names of two men who were fatally shot on Wednesday. They were identified as Andre Hunt, 28, and Davon William Johnson, 26. They were shot to death in separate incidents.
Five shootings occurred in the city on Tuesday. A 42-year-old man was shot multiple times during the evening and died from his injuries. In other shootings, a 22-year-old man was shot in the leg, a 27-year-old man in the face and a 31-year-old woman took a bullet in the arm. A 24-year-old man who was riding his bicycle had a bullet graze his head.
On Monday, the day a state of emergency was declared, a man and a 51-year-old woman both suffered gunshot wounds to their legs in separate occurrences.
There is some speculation the increase in crime was the result of perpetrators becoming more brazen because they thought the police were otherwise occupied. Other than the increase in numbers compared to 2014, these murders and shootings were not unusual for Baltimore or many other large American cities, especially those controlled by Democrats.
But it is interesting to think about these acts of violence alongside the death of Freddie Gray and the aftermath. While reported in the Baltimore media, there was no interest in the international media. The shootings were not of any particular interest to anyone outside of Baltimore, but with the international media in the city for the protests and riots, you would think it would at least be of some interest. But no.
Many of the names of those killed were either not released by the police or media or released after some time.
The reality is that no one really cares about those who are shot and sometimes killed on the streets of Baltimore. Lives, let alone black lives, don’t matter. They only “matter” when there is a political point to be made such as by the anti-cop left. Race in Baltimore is not even a concern, after it was learned half of the six police officers facing charges in the death of Gray are black.
Eventually, the protests will stop and the media will all leave. And the shootings and the killings will continue. And nobody outside of a small circle of friends and relatives will care.
