Shooting greets London visitor
Mark Hughes, our exchange reporter from London's The Independent newspaper, had just gotten off a train from Washington Sunday evening when crime reporter Justin Fenton and I took him to a shooting in McElderry Park in Southeast Baltimore.
What an introduction for a reporter who wants to see if Baltimore measures up to The Wire.
His first view of the city: heading south on St. Paul, east on Orleans to Milton Avenue where a man had been shot in the stomach. I pull up to the crime scene tape, his suitcases still rattling in the back, to find cops looking for a 9mm handgun. The victim survived. It was the first shooting in this neighborhood in a number of months, which for here is a good sign.
Crime scene tape blocked the street; overhead a neighborhood sign showed an image of a body outline and the words "Enough is enough." Up the street, blue light surveillance cameras blinked nonstop.
I want Mark to come away from Baltimore feeling the way I do: yes, there's violence, and more of it than in London and other American cities, but this is a vibrant, exciting and fun place to live, safe in most neighborhoods. We left Milton Avenue and had dinner in Federal Hill, where bars were packed with Ravens fans celebrating the victory, a world away from Milton Avenue and blue light police cameras.
In addition to updates here, we have a blog set up for Mark and Justin to talk about their experiences. Justin heads off to London on Wednesday and will be reporting back on what he sees there. Both reporters will be on the Ed Norris show on Tuesday. As soon as I get a time confirmed, I'll post here.
Meanwhile, welcome Mark to Baltimore.
Comments
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? These are the tenants that every reporter lives by. When it comes to murder in Baltimore City, the answers to those questions, according to the Sun's Interactive murder database, are as follows.
Who? - 78% African American Men
What? - Murder Victims
When? - 2009
Where? - Throughout the great City of Baltimore
Why? - Mostly because of the drug trade
How? - Mostly shootings
So the fact is that if you are not a young African American male involved in the drug trade, you have a very small likelihood of becoming a murder victim in Baltimore City. As politically incorrect as that statement may be, that is what the data shows.
Posted by: 30 Floors Up | November 2, 2009 1:12 PM
Great - you've used your sensationalized stories to scare most of Baltimore and now you want to take that message to the world - i.e. DON'T LIVE, WORK OR VISIT BALTIMORE if you want to live. I get so fed up with the Sun's constant crime rant - the truth is the vast majority of us are perfectly happy in our city and are not significantly affected by the crime which plagues a certain segment of our population - a comparison with London whose demographics are not even remotely similar to Baltmore will certainly once again put Baltimore in as negative a light as possible - but hey isn't that your goal??
Posted by: Just the News Please! | November 2, 2009 2:36 PM
I am offended by the statement regarding Federal Hill being worlds away from Milton Ave and its blue crime cameras. I live on N Milton Ave, a block from the shooting. I stood with neighbors last night, hoping that whomever had been shot was going to be ok. One of my neighbors ran outside to see if he could offer medical help upon hearing the gunshots. We are a community, we love our neighborhood and we don't appreciate your over-generalization or demeaning comments. I hope that your exchange reporter from London sees Baltimore through eyes less jaded than yours. Those of us on N Milton Ave welcome him to see our neighborhood as we do - one on the rise, cleaning up, filled mostly with people who care about the neighborhood and each other. Last night appears to have been a targeted incident, not one of random violence. And for the record - there is no blue crime camera on the street corner at issue because, in general? Things are pretty quiet in our neighborhood.
Posted by: N Milton Resident | November 2, 2009 5:03 PM