Topline
Police in Baltimore arrested a 17-year-old on Friday in connection with the deadly shooting at a block party that left 2 people dead and nearly 30 others injured, though an investigation remains ongoing into the deadly attack, one of a string of shootings over the July 4 weekend.
Baltimore Police arrested a 17-year-old involved in a mass shooting over the Fourth of July weekend, … [+]
Key Facts
The Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide and SWAT team arrested the 17-year-old, whose name was not released, at 7 a.m. Friday morning, after searching his home, the department announced.
The suspect, who was taken to Baltimore’s Central Booking Intake Facility, was charged with assault weapon possession, carrying a handgun in a vehicle, possession of a firearm by a minor and reckless endangerment.
Though police believe the teenager was involved in the shooting at a residential block party on July 2, they have not charged him with murder, and are offering up to $28,000 for additional information on the shooting that leads to an arrest and charges.
Key Background
The mass shooting at a July 4 weekend block party on Sunday resulted in 28 injuries—including 15 children—and 2 deaths. Police said on Friday that 3 of those victims remain in local hospitals, where they’re all listed in fair condition. Police later identified those killed as 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi. Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in a press conference the day after the shooting that the department was searching for at least two suspects, and had recovered multiple weapons and bullet casings at the scene, though the motive remained unclear.
Tangent
The shooting was one of 17 mass shootings over the four-day July 4 weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as attacks that leave at least four people killed or injured, not including the assailant. Another four people were killed at a Fourth of July party in Shreveport, Louisiana, over the weekend, five in a mass shooting in Philadelphia on July 3 and three more in a Fort Worth, Texas, parking lot. President Joe Biden on the Fourth of July condemned the attacks, and called for action on gun reform to “address the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our communities apart.”
Further Reading
Baltimore Shooting: What We Know—And Don’t—About Block Party Gunfire That Left 2 Dead And 28 Injured (Forbes)
Baltimore Shooting: 2 Dead, 28 Injured At Block Party (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/07/07/teen-arrested-in-deadly-baltimore-shooting-investigation-ongoing/