Anti-violence group places banner in Baltimore community honoring 300+ murder victims from 2022
BALTIMORE - A community in West Baltimore is remembering all of the murder victims from last year.
"When you see over 300 people on a wall, it's right in your face," Angelo 'Taps' Dent, with Baltimore Guardian Angels said.
Guardian Angels, a anti-violence group, made a banner with a somber message. It has more than 300 names on it.
All of them were victims of violence in 2022 in Baltimore. It was the eighth-straight year murders surpassed 300.
"Seeing 300 people up there is really sad," Baltimore resident Gordon Burrell said. "I wish these people could have had more life, could've made it to the next of their life."
The Guardian Angels makes a banner like this every year.
It was hanging up outside their office downtown.
Now, it has a new home.
It's on Baker Street in West Baltimore between the Easterwood and Sandtown-Winchester neighborhoods.
"If you don't feel something every time you see this -- to help, do something to make a change, then I don't know," Dent said.
The Guardian Angels brought the banner to this neighborhood because many homicides have happened here over the years.
The president of the neighborhood association said community members have been working hard to stop the violence, and it's working.
"The western district has averaged 50 homicides a year," said Dr. Marvin 'Doc' Cheatham. "This past year, we only had 33."
They believe the message behind this banner will prevent more homicides from happening.
"We're hoping more people in the community start to come see this and they're going to decide to do something more and different to decrease the crime that is in Baltimore city," Cheatham said.
The banner will be in the neighborhood for about a month.
The Guardian Angels said they hope to hang it up in another community after that.
