Baltimore Homicides End City’s 72-Hour Ceasefire

Community leaders say the ceasefire was a “call to action in order to save the city and community for our future generations.”

Two fatal shootings in Baltimore ended what many hoped would be a weekend without gun violence.

Reuters reports that a 37-year-old man died Saturday evening from gunshot wounds after the death of a 24-year-old shooting victims hours earlier, both during a 72-hour “ceasefire” called by local activists.

The “Baltimore Ceasefire” effort kicked off on Friday, using the hashtag #BaltimoreCeasefire, with the hope that gun violence would cease through Sunday. There were no reported shooting deaths on Friday. However, on Saturday, in addition to the two homicide, there was at least one other nonfatal shooting in which someone struck a 22-year-old in the arm.

“There is a war going on in Baltimore right now. We are experiencing genocide among our African-American males, both by the hands of the Police Department and from one another,” Baltimore Ceasefire wrote on Facebook, according to The New York Daily News. “We the people need a call to action in order to save the city and our community for our future generations.”

The organizers added that the killings would not stop their goal of reducing gun violence in the majority Black city, Reuters reported. By the end of July, Baltimore had a record 204 homicides for 2017.

SOURCE: Reuters, New York Daily News

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