New Year's gunfire
I'm still checking with Baltimore police to see if they have any new plans to combat the Baltimore tradition of celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve. Police in years past have tried various methods -- from ignoring it and hiding under underpasses to confronting it head-on.
This latter tactic was tried in 2000 under then-Mayor Martin O'Malley. Police ended up shooting one gunmen and arresting many others. From a Jan. 4, 2000 article:
This year, city police decided to confront the unofficial holiday revelers. Officers swarmed over the city and in 12 hours, they seized 122 firearms and arrested more than 100 people."These are some of the instruments of death in this city," said Police Commissioner Ronald L. Daniel, as he stood in front of a table covered with guns, including .357-caliber Magnum revolvers and 9 mm assault rifles.
Mayor Martin O'Malley said officers used to ignore the gunfire. But the city's new mayor is trying to reverse an image that Baltimore is a dangerous city, and he said his new police commissioner will not tolerate such inaction.
"They [officers] didn't hide beneath overpasses or take cover," O'Malley said at a news conference yesterday. "They used to simply shrug their shoulders as if it's just something that goes on. It doesn't go on anymore."
In 2004, city police tried again, putting 1,000 officers on the streets looking for people shooting into the air: "Leave the guns inside," Acting Deputy Commissioner J. Charles Gutberlet III said at the time. "If you want to make some noise, come out with the pots and pans."
In Los Angeles this year, police are warning that gunfire is illegal. According to the Los Angeles Times, county sheriff Lee Baca and city Chief William J. Bratton urged residents to hold their gunfire. They put out fliers in English and Spanish reading, "Love Them, Don't Shoot Them."
"What goes up must come down, and what comes down does so with unpleasant circumstances," Baca said at a news conference, according to the Times.
More from the 2000 Baltimore Sun article:
Police said the amount of gunfire that welcomed in 2000 was intense. At 12: 01 a.m., an officer jokingly radioed his dispatcher: "Be advised, in addition to all the gunfire, we have fireworks."
Officers in the Eastern District said they were showered with the remnants of shotgun shells as they stood in their parking lot. Police said they recovered 300 spent shell casings from five weapons at a single West Baltimore corner. Police said someone shot out an electric box on The Alameda with a machine gun, knocking out power to 51 homes.
As midnight hit, Housing Authority Officer Steven Henson confronted three gunmen shooting into the air in the 200 block of N. Bond St., in the Douglass Homes public housing complex west of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
He got out of his cruiser, only to have the gunmen aim at him. In an exchange of gunfire, a bullet grazed his sweater and nicked his bulletproof vest. A three-hour standoff followed, after which three people were arrested, including a 15-year-old boy.
Baltimore police dispatchers were swamped with calls. From 10 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Saturday, 516 people dialed 911 to report gunfire. Seventy such calls were made between 11: 55 p.m. and 12: 05 a.m.
One of those callers was Martha Calenzo, of Fort Bragg, N.C., who was visiting relatives on North Glover Street in East Baltimore. Moments after midnight, she said a bullet crashed through the second-floor skylight.
"We were having snacks and drinks, and we heard what we first thought was my nephew coming through the door," Calenzo said. "But then we saw the skylight glass broken and a 9 mm bullet on the floor."
Calenzo said the family immediately called police, but complained that it took officers more than five hours to respond.
"I was very surprised. In North Carolina, it's a serious crime to shoot into someone's home," Calenzo said. "Here, the policeman acted like it was a regular occurrence. He just took the bullet and said, `Yeah, this happens a lot,' then he left."
Comments
I remember when I was a child, my brother and I couldn't wait til new years. My dad and grandad always let us shoot their guns at 12 o'clock. now that I am a parent, taxpayer, and citizen I couldn't imagine putting a weapon in my childs hand. I'ts just plain stupid. I didn't get it then but I do now! But think about parents who did what mine did and the thousands of kids who didn't get it. scary
Posted by: bondz | December 30, 2008 8:13 PM
unreal.
Posted by: Mike | December 31, 2008 12:06 AM