Video shows alleged suspects in Baltimore playground shooting that injured child and man
Baltimore Police shared video showing the alleged suspects and car involved in a Baltimore playground shooting that left an 11-year-old and a man injured on Wednesday, May 27.
Police arrived at the scene in Baltimore's Upton neighborhood, where they found the boy and a 26-year-old man with gunshot wounds.
On Friday, police said both victims are expected to survive.
Baltimore playground shooting
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Police Commissioner Richard Worley both condemned the actions, with Scott calling it "another case of weak men who cannot resolve their petty conflict without gunfire."
The shooting took place at a playground next to Templeton Elementary School.
Worley said he believes the 26-year-old man was the intended target for the shooting and the child was a bystander. Other children were on the playground at the time of the shooting, police said.
"It affects the whole community because I don't feel safe to come outside during the day," said longtime resident Clinton Milburn. "At nighttime, I do not come outside at all. I worry about my granddaughters being out here on the playground, playing out front. We have to prevent things from happening."
According to police dispatch audio, the suspects may have changed clothes at a nearby apartment after the shooting.
Suspects, car seen in video
Video shared on Friday by police showed a white sedan pulling up. Two men dressed in all black are seen getting out of the driver's side and the rear passenger side of the car before pointing weapons across the street.
Officials said the shooters pulled up across from the Marshall Recreation Center and Templeton Elementary off Pennsylvania Avenue.
Community reaction
In a video posted on Facebook, Gari McCarter says she was coaching step dance in a building next to the playground when the gunshots rang out.
"For years I've been trying to find a safe place to practice," she told WJZ's Caroline Foreback.
She says the season is now canceled indefinitely.
"We just don't have anywhere else to go," she said.
Rick Fontaine Leandry, Chief of Community Engagement at MONSE, commented on the shooting, stating, "I think knowing some of the details of how it happened bothers me. No one should be shot at all, especially a child...Emotionally, it just didn't sit right at all."
Resources in place
On Friday, leaders from the mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and other community organizations returned to the Upton neighborhood to listen to neighbors' concerns.
"Especially after this incident, I think some of the neighbors and parents are concerned about the safety of their children and their grandchildren," Leandry added.
He says they're trying to connect people with resources and even employment in an effort to address systemic issues that contribute to neighborhood violence.
"We bring resources, therapists on call, we post up in the rec center over here. We brought some therapists to the school to work with the children," he said. "Whenever there's an incident, a traumatic incident, [the] community needs healing."
Police are asking anyone with information about the suspects to call detectives at 410-396-2422 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.
