Baltimore mayor calls police meeting after 5 killed in shootings in less than 48 hours

In less than 48 hours, five people were killed, and as many as 10 others were injured in multiple shootings across Baltimore, prompting Mayor Brandon Scott to call a meeting with police command staff to discuss efforts to stop retaliatory violence.

Scott said he wanted to "refocus" the department on small groups of people responsible for violence in city neighborhoods.

"We cannot have another two weeks like the two weeks we've been having," Scott said.

The effort to prevent retaliatory shootings involves not only police officers but also community partners who have experienced the impact of gun violence firsthand.

"Let's do something now before the knock comes on your door," Nicole Warren, a site coordinator for Safe Streets Sandtown, told WJZ reporter Tara Lynch.

Turning pain into action

Warren remembers the knock on her own door in 2018, when her 17-year-old son was killed in a shooting. She has since turned her grief into action, walking the streets of her community and working to prevent other families from experiencing the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence.

"I felt like I was on an island by myself, and to the God that I serve, I kept praying, and I said, 'Just get me through,'" Warren said. "I had a lot of orange [Safe Streets volunteers] show up for me. That's why I bring a lot of orange to show up for others."

Warren has worked for Safe Streets for nine years, helping communities affected by violence. On Tuesday, she walked near the 2800 block of Edmondson Avenue, stopping to talk with business owners and neighbors.

On Sunday, two people were killed and three others injured after several suspects opened fire at a BP gas station in West Baltimore.

Officers responded around 10:30 p.m. and found a woman and three men suffering from gunshot wounds. Another man arrived at a hospital with gunshot wounds.

The woman and one of the men died. The three other men are expected to survive.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said there appeared to be two or three shooters, and that high-powered rifles were used. No arrests have been announced.

Earlier Sunday night, three people were injured in a shooting at a liquor store in Northwest Baltimore, according to police.

Officers responded around 8:30 p.m. to Pepper Liquor Store in the 5400 block of Reisterstown Road, where they found two women, ages 26 and 22, suffering from gunshot wounds.

Both women were taken to a hospital in stable condition.

While at the scene, officers learned that a 27-year-old man had arrived at a hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Multiple gunmen wanted in Northwest Baltimore shooting

Disturbing video obtained exclusively by WJZ shows two men running with guns drawn near the intersection of Muth Avenue and North Forest Park Avenue in broad daylight. The men get into a silver car and flee.

Officers responded around 4:30 p.m. to the area near Carroll Motor Fuels in the 5200 block of Muth Avenue, where three men were found shot.

A 24-year-old man and a 30-year-old man died. A 21-year-old man was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

A business owner told WJZ that he had chased people off his property before and had even considered closing his business because of the violence.

Mayor meets with police command staff

On Tuesday, Scott called a meeting with police command staff that he described as a "talk." During the closed-door meeting, he said he urged department leaders to push their officers to intensify efforts to identify and track down small groups of people involved in retaliatory shootings.

"Making sure that everybody that wears the badge is bought into and understands we know the people, and we have to focus on them," Scott said.

As of Tuesday morning, 253 people had been shot in Baltimore in 2026, compared with 247 at the same point last year, according to police. The city had recorded 101 homicides this year, down from 105 during the same period in 2025.

Worley said officers were being deployed throughout the city to disrupt groups involved in violence. He also said the department needed to return to basic policing strategies, including conducting vehicle stops and approaching groups gathered on street corners.

"Right now, we've got to stop them from shooting each other, so that we can get a grip on it," Worley said. "We do that by more cops in the right places doing the right thing."

Later Monday night, a 39-year-old man was killed near Belair Road. An officer conducting a business check in the 3200 block of Belair Road around 11 p.m. heard multiple gunshots and went outside to investigate, according to police.

Two other victims, both 21-year-old men, were shot and injured.

Since mid-September, at least seven shootings across Baltimore have left multiple people dead or injured.

Several mass shootings have killed or injured children and adults during that time. At least four mass shootings have occurred over the past month, including a shooting earlier this month that killed a 12-year-old girl at a West Baltimore park.

Another mass shooting in the Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore left an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old dead and two other people wounded.

Community safety workers are stretched thin in many neighborhoods as they try to prevent further violence and help residents move forward.

"Every day, is it a good day? No, it's not, but I'm going to make the best of it, and I'm going to keep moving, and I'm going to show you how I'm living, and getting through what I went through," Warren said. "What can we do different? ... I know we can be saved. I know we can."

Anyone with information about these shootings is asked to call Baltimore police at 410-396-2466 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.