One man has been killed and six others injured in a broad daylight mass shooting in Baltimore, after two gunmen jumped out of a car and ambushed a group of people hanging out in a street.
Baltimore Police Chief Michael Harrison said that a “mass casualty event” unfolded at the intersection of Park Heights Avenue and Shirley Avenue in the Maryland city’s Northwest District at around 12.24pm on Wednesday afternoon.
The police chief said that a group of men were sitting and standing at the intersection when a late-model silver four-door Lexus sedan drove into the area on Park Heights.
At that moment, two suspects exited the vehicle and began firing “indiscriminately” at the group of people, he said.
Seven people – all adult males – were shot in the attack.
The two shooters then jumped back into the vehicle and fled from the scene, Chief Harrison said.
Officers arrived on the scene to find two victims suffering from gunshot wounds. They were rushed to the shock trauma unit of a local hospital, where one man died from his injuries.
The other five victims walked into Sinai Hospital for treatment for gunshot wounds.
The police chief said that the six surviving victims are believed to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are all expected to survive.
The identities of the victims have not been released but police confirmed that none of them are minors.
Other than the description of the vehicle, officials appeared to have no further details about the two suspects who are now at large.
Chief Harrison said that the attack appeared to be “targeted” as he urged members of the public to come forward with information about what he described as a “brazen” and “cowardly” incident.
“In broad daylight, the brazenness of these offenders to pull up, get out of a car and then open fire on a group of people minding their own business is unconscionable,” he said.
“What’s as unconscionable as that is people who know who was in that car but don’t say anything and don’t help as we never know when it could be somebody else, somebody’s family member.”
Chief Harrison said he believes that “somebody knows” something that could help track down the shooters and hold them “accountable” for what they have done to the victims and the community.
“What we need to know right now is if there is anyone who saw, heard or knows anything about this shooting, about the silver Lexus, about the individuals who were in at that Lexus,” he said.
“Even if they were your own family members, we need to know because we now have a mass casualty incident.”
Images posted on social media by Baltimore Police show yellow police tape cordoning off the area where the shooting took place as an investigation continues.
At the time the shooting unfolded, the police chief said he was standing at a podium at nearby Tench Tilghman Park with Maryland US Attorney Erek Barron, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan as they announced initiatives to fight violent crime in the city.
DA Barron said at the press conference that officials would fight crime and get criminals off the streets “by whatever legal means necessary”.
Governor Hogan tweeted that an “unprecedented state funding” was being channeled into addressing violent crime.
“By continuing to work with federal, state, and local partners, we are going to use every tool at our disposal to make our neighborhoods safer,” he said.
The move comes as Baltimore continues to be plagued by gun violence and other violent crimes.
Police data reveals that Baltimore has recorded a total of 18,766 crimes so far in 2022, including 231 homicides, 476 shootings, 3,600 aggravated assaults and 425 carjackings.
In the last 24 hours before Wednesday’s attack, at least three other people were injured in shootings in the city.
At around 10pm on Tuesday night, two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, were shot in the leg in the city’s Eastern District, police said.
Hours later – at around 1am – officers were called to a shooting in the Northeast District where they found an 18-year-old with multiple gunshots wounds.
Anyone with information about Wednesday’s shooting is asked to call homicide detectives at (410)396-210.Those who wish to remain anonymous can utilise the Metro Crime Stoppers tip-line at 1-866-7LOCK-UP or anonymously text a tip by visiting the MCS of Maryland website.
