The riots, looting, and arson may not currently be an issue in Baltimore, but severe violence has persisted. While after three weeks most of America has moved on, believing that the drama is for the large part over, the reality is that since the riots, the murder rate in the city has skyrocketed, with 23 homicides in the last 18 days alone.
Yet slayings have attracted little notice compared to the mass protests and violence over the death of Freddie Gray. They come as the city works to recover from the unrest and a police force fights being demoralized by the arrests of six of its members — three of whom face murder or manslaughter charges in Gray’s death.
From mid-April to mid-May, 31 people were killed, and 39 others were wounded. 10 people were shot on a single day on two separate occasions. As of Friday, the city’s homicide count is 91, 21 above last year at the same time.
In the District, 40 people had been slain as of Friday, excluding four people found dead Thursday in cases police said are being investigated as homicides.
Clearly, something is deeply wrong in Baltimore and nobody is doing anything about it.
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