Baltimore police are having a 12:30 p.m. news conference to provide updates on the spate of shootings over on Sunday. At left are some new pictures from the Baltimore Sun's Jed Kirschbaum from the scene on Ashland Avenue where 12 people were shot.

Police are having a news conference this afternoon but we've learned some details. The Baltimore Sun's police reporter, Justin Fenton, is reporting the 12 people shot were at a memorial cookout for the Blackwell family. Last year, two Blackwell teens were kidnapped from a Baltimore County home and held by a rival group. The teens were released after a deal was brokered, but no criminal charges were filed. Here is some background:

According to law enforcement sources, at least two of the shooting incidents appeared to be connected. One of the victims at the cookout shooting was Steven Blackwell, 25, whose younger brothers were abducted last April in what police said was part of an escalating feud between rival drug organizations. Police sources at the time told The Baltimore Sun that the abductions may have set off a wave of as many as five retaliatory homicides over the course of three months last summer.

Sunday's cookout was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the fatal shootings of Quinton Hogan, 23, who police believe was connected with the Blackwells, and Donell Rogers, 21. They were fatally shot July 25, 2008, shortly after Hogan appeared in District Court. Blackwell showed up to pay his respects, and was among those struck Sunday night, sources said. He received a gunshot to the forearm, the sources said.

The last time this many people had been shot in once incident was 2001 when 11 people were hit, one fatally, on Memorial Day on East North Avenue. A leader of the gang -- the "Hot Boyz" responsible for that shooting was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison in 2003. During his hearing, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz compared violence on the streets to efforts being made to reduce violence in Iraq.

"We've got to work together to make the city a place where freedom can thrive and people can live happy," the judge said.