- Early Saturday morning, Dawn Lynn Shipley got shot in the head because of a cigarette.
- Saturday afternoon, Michael Lee Thompson was shot behind some rowhouses on Pleasant St. in Annapolis. He'd been out of jail for a year and was apparently trying to get on a good path.
- On Sunday morning, Sean W. Henderson and a friend were shot "for no apparent reason" on Belair Rd.
- A few hours later, a man was found in the backyard of a rowhouse on Orleans St. in the Middle East neighborhood.
Luke gives us his monthly murder recap, along with the tasty fact that this was the least murderous April in Baltimore since 1977.
There was also the police-involved shooting on Lauretta Ave. on Friday night, but y'all know about that already. The shootee is in critical condition.
Shooters and cutters in the city, and familial bad behavior in the county.
One of the 911 operators who took a call about stabbing victim Nancy Schmidt last month has been suspended, but we don't have any idea why.
Robert Allen Flanagan is the kind of bank robber who inspires folk tales.
You know, it's hard out here for a
13 comments:
The women shot in the head infront of her boyfriend is a pure tragedy...but of course the media will forget about it by tonight!
Late Summer nights in Bmore = Trouble...alotta people with alotta guns are going to be roaming this summer...be safe, stay in after dark, dont go to the corner stores after 9pm...and if you do, be ready..
Another one?
Record low-homicide months go out with a bang around here.
Galt, that appears to be the fourth item on the list in today's post. The Sun reported it as happening yesterday morning, BAL reports it as today. Frankly, given the choice between trusting WBAL and the Sun, my biases toward print journalism become evident.
I think you are correct.
In a recent post, Jaimetab noted the tendency of the Sun to qualify coverage of the rape incidents in Charles Village with spin of the form, '.., although crime is uncommon in Charles Village...'.
That's because the 400-pound gorilla in the area, Johns Hopkins University, doesn't like for its students to hear about the crime, unless it perceives a liablity issue.
Just to un-spin the spindoctors, here's 90 days in the life of a Charles Villager.
Safety. Yeah. That's the ticket.
Jeez, John, how do you make the crime map do that?
I can only make it to do 2 weeks at a time. But i see your point.
To defend Annie Linskey a bit though, Sun reporters have to look for both sides of an issue. And I take Jamietab's point, but the article segued into talking about all of Northern District. And of course, Major Buzzoro gets paid to say those nice things.
And actually Hopkins is one of the better schools anywhere notifying its students of crime in the areas around the Homewood camus. Anyone with web access can view their daily incident crime logs and their security alerts.
The school, of course, does not advertise the goings-on in areas off-campus during student visits, but it is not liable for what happens off-campus in areas not controlled by the university. And they do make a reasonable effort to expand their security patrols and cameras out into the community a bit--and also pay off-duty city police to patrol in uniform just off campus.
That having been said, the quote of the Hopkins student was quite honest: it's part of the deal of going to Hopkins. (I guess that's part of a student's education-dealing with big-city high crime.)
The receptionist at my acupuncturist, an pre-med student, reported that her boyfriend was recently jumped outside their house in the 3200 block of Guilford Avenue. He, an Asian student did not have any valuables on him; they beat him to the ground; he suffered a black eye and one broken rib. She shrugged: it's Baltimore, whaddaya expect?
OK,.. so,... how about this one, Chuck ?
You got me, Galt. Looks like we're up to five in five days. So much for the 10 in a month record.
Buz,
They keep 90 days in the database. To access the full 90 days, just pull of the 14 day map from the earliest available date. Then, in the url look for:
NumDays%3D14
Change the 14 to 90.
Voila!
Hey Buz, the problem is that there AREN'T always two sides to every story. The crime in Charles Village is basically at the level of a crime wave. If this crap happpened almost anywhere else in the US, the mayor would be yelling about it on TV every night, demanding outside help.The scumbags know they face almost ZERO chance of getting caught and even less of serving any time for offenses that get people in other jurisdictions 5 to 10 years hard time. I couldn't believe my eyes, reading the statement about "the Charles Village foot officer will be deployed to St. Paul Street, blah, blah..." yes, SINGULAR!! Are they kidding? Why even have one if that's what you're going to do! It is a disgrace, and a complete abdication of responsibility by those sworn to protect the public. In addition, I don't believe that the numbers are down anyway (where's the agg assault on your receptionist's friend, or the St Paul St attempted rape, for example, on Galt's map?) and even if the stats weren't juked, it still is a huge emergency, and not something to crow about. Did people go around in November 1929 talking about how the stock market was up and we should all feel great?
Thanks, Lucid!
Jai---Well, John Galt's map and the JHU crime blotter sure make it look like a crime wave!
YEAH, we're all glad that "crime" and murders and nonfatal shootings are down (though I think we've had at least a murder a day in May). But the other crimes, are still pretty high-when you start at a very high level.
Crime in Charles Village has historically been a persistent problem. It has several geographical and demographic issues which cause that: it is basically surrounded on 2 or 3 sides by poverty-stricken, drug infested, and now gang-laden areas. The Village has a large transient student population because of its proximity to Hopkins and a melting pot of young people living on their own--many of which are women. Many properties are rentals, more or less taken care of by the landlords. The students and professional people living there have a lot of "stuff": cars and buildings are frequently broken into; robbers go thru periods of activity and boldness. Typically, the victims have stuff, don't fight, don't run, give it up, and call lots of other people before the cops. The thugs are back in the hood before the cops get the call.
The other issue is that the poor Northern District has only 160 officers assigned--just like every other district, no matter how big or small. Huge numbers of officers are deployed in specialized units like the "Violent Crime Impact Division" and such, and are deployed to keep the big bad numbers down. They are essentially assigned to Baltimore's "Crime Vietnam" areas, EAStern, Western, and sometimes Southwestern district to "keep the lid on". That's why John Galt gets so upset about the crime in his area.
j i'm glad you still have the capacity for outrage! i have outrage fatigue, myself.
from what i remember in my cv days, there were two annual crime waves-- when school starts, late aug/sept, and in the spring as soon as it gets warm.
'crime vietnam'... i shouldn't find that funny but i do...
very important reminder about the grocery store buz, thanks. will post a reminder for 'the ladies' as soon as i can put this baby down (until then must type with one hand)
I'm also kinda pissed about the constant effort of responding officers to nonreport/downgrade incidents in order to keep the stats looking better than they really are.
A hoodlum broke into my place through the glass about a week ago while I was present and when the police responded (quite promptly, I might add with surprise)to my 311, they didn't want to file any report. I objected and they filed a consolation prize 'property damage' report, which is UCR Part II and never, ever sees the light of day.
It should have been Commercial B & E.
All of which contributes to "Crime? What crime?"
Yeah, crime is down in the Northern, all right. On paper.
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