West Baltimore community rattled after child shot on playground, suspects at large
An 11-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen just after 7:30 pm Wednesday, and two suspects remained on the loose 24 hours later, leaving a West Baltimore community on edge.
The shooting happened on a playground at Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street next to Templeton Elementary School in the Upton community.
The Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) had a team in the community, trying to calm neighbors' fears and provide services.
A community shaken
Clinton Milburn has lived in the Upton community for more than 20 years and expressed his heartbreak for the family of the injured child.
"An 11-year-old child on a playground just minding his own business," a disgusted Milburn told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren.
"It affects the whole community because I don't feel safe to come outside during the day. At nighttime, I do not come outside at all," he added. "I worry about my granddaughters being out here on the playground, playing out front. We have to prevent things from happening."
A loved one of the injured child posted online that the shooters are cowards and asked for prayers for the family.
What we know about the suspects
Police told WJZ Investigates the two shooters pulled up across from the Marshall Recreation Center and Templeton Elementary off busy Pennsylvania Avenue and started shooting at a 26-year-old man, their intended target.
He was hit along with the 11-year-old.
Police are looking at video of the incident. A convenience store across the street has multiple cameras.
"One of them had a rifle. They fired towards a playground where other kids were playing. We are lucky only one child was hurt," Commissioner Richard Worley told WJZ. "Now, you've got an 11 year-old boy who is shot in the abdomen. He's probably going to have to go through a bunch of surgeries to get himself fixed and hopefully have a good life."
Police did not provide a description, but according to dispatch audio, the suspects may have changed clothes at an apartment nearby after the shooting.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott condemned the violence.
"What we have here is another case of weak- men who cannot resolve their petty conflict without gunfire," Mayor Scott said. "And now we have two people hit including an 11-year-old child who has absolutely nothing to do with whatever you're beefing about."
MONSE response
WJZ was at the site where Stefanie Mavronis and her MONSE team went door-to-door providing outreach and working to make sure violence does not erupt here again.
"We don't want to see any retaliation coming from this incident. We don't want to see anything else happening that's impacting what is right here in a school zone—what should be a safe space for our children at the rec center, and so we're all here to stand in solidarity with that as a city," Mavronis said.
"We're standing at the school where that young person was in attendance. We have other young people who are waking up and hearing about this incident. We have a community that is shocked to hear that something like this can happen, so it's fundamentally something that's not our norm—never can be our norm—but it has a deep impact on people," Mavronis told Hellgren. "And so, it is part of the resources that we're sharing today when we knock doors—including what kind of trauma support is available to people even if they didn't witness the incident."
Anyone with tips should call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-Lockup. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
