Another death of a young boy in Baltimore brought another grim photograph. The image captured by Baltimore Sun photographer Jed Kirschbaum doesn't show a body under a sheet, or even a single living or dead human being. Instead, Jed's photograph shows two grapefruits on the marble steps of a rowhouse and three splotches of blood on the pavement in the foreground. Ronald Jackson was trying to deliver these grapefruits to an elderly neighbor across the street when he was shot, his family believes in a case of mistaken identity. I thought the picture was powerful becaue it tells the sad story without graphic images. I thought of other pictures taken at crime scenes where young lives were lost, that defy the cliche, if it bleeds it leads, and prompts people to think.

At left, Precious Johnson is holding a cap worn by her brother, 10-year-old Tauris, who was shot and killed in 1993 on East Oliver Street while playing football when two rival drug dealers engaged in a shootout. The picture was taken by Baltimore Sun photographer Mark Bugnaski.

 Here, Baltimore homicide detective Homer Pennington looks over the crime scene after 13--year-old Shenea Counts was killed while getting a cup of ice during a hot day in 1999 in Southwest Baltimore. The photo was taken by Baltimore Sun photographer Kim Hairston.

Baltimore Sun photographer Lloyd Fox captured this image of a barber shop in 1997 in which 3-year-old James Smith III was killed while sitting in a barber chair getting his first haircut. Drug dealers sitting on either side of him started shooting.

A crime lab technician examines the scene where 2-year-old Carlos Woods was was shot and wounded while trying to retrieve a juice cup on his front steps in 2001. Police said he was struck by a stray bullet. The photo was taken by Baltimore Sun photographer Perry Thorsvik.