Crime wrapup
The Crime Beat is back!
I took one day off to catch up at home and it seems the city explodes -- a shooting at a downtown hotel with a TEC-9 semiautomatic pistol and an off-duty city police officer who thwarted an armed robbery in Hampden on Friday by shooting the attacker.
The city's top cop once again used his favorite names to describe the shooters:
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III held a news conference to stress that it was an "isolated incident" for the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel, where the shooting occurred, and unusual for downtown hotels, in general.
He railed in frustration against "idiots and morons" with guns they're ready to use in a fight. He declared that the police are doing what they can but said authorities need everyone in the city to "help us remove this scourge."
Also, another installment of Justin Fenton's Tale of Two Cities series from London ran. This one centers on some officials in Great Britain comparing their cities to that of Baltimore based on The Wire and their own crime problems. Such statements created a great stir there:
Officials have pushed back, noting that this year's bump in crime still represents the second-lowest figure in the past five years. Though "respect" shootings doubled, that was from an original total of just 33. Total homicides are down for the year, following a 20-year low last year.
"We have a very, very low murder rate for a reason," said London Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse, who along with his boss, Mayor Boris Johnson, has angled to seize unprecedented control over the Metropolitan Police Department. "And the reason is that we take it very, very seriously."
In Britain, obtaining guns remains a challenge for criminals, and just 20 percent of firearms seized by police are working guns. Instead, criminals reconfigure starter pistols and replica guns, or smuggle weapons from Eastern European and Asian countries. If guns are hard to come by, officers say, ammunition is even more rare. Many shootings avoid a fatal result because the bullets are of such poor quality - spent shell casings repacked and recycled.
"At the end of the day, it's not the gun that's going to kill you - it's the ammunition. But they struggle knowing where to get the ammunition from," said Police Constable Matthew Broome. "So they have to get creative, and refilling a shell of a bullet means a bullet isn't as potent when it's fired from the gun."
Meanwhile, the city has recorded 218 slayings, compared with 234 in all of 2008, a two-decade low. It doesn't appear we'll improve on last year's numbers, but it's far better from back when I covered the day-to-day crime and Baltimore recorded more than 300 each year for a decade.
Unfortunately, the Hampden shooting only made the final print edition, so here the story written by Jacques Kelly:
Off-duty officer shoots suspect in Hampden holdup
By Jacques Kelly
Baltimore Sun reporter
10:24 PM EST, December 4, 2009
An off-duty city police officer critically wounded a man who was holding up a Hampden liquor store Friday night.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said a customer at Hampden Liquors left the store as it was being robbed by two men about 8:20 p.m.
The customer encountered an off-duty Northwestern District officer walking along the 3700 block of Falls Road.
The officer went to the store and saw a 20-year-old man pointing a handgun at a clerk. Guglielmi said the officer, while on the street, "took a defensive position" and fired shots at the robber, wounding him in the upper torso.
His accomplice fled the scene but was later caught on nearby Elm Avenue. Police recovered a second handgun in the 3600 block of Hickory Ave.
Guglielmi, who said that no store employee was hurt, called the thwarted robbery an "act of heroism." The suspect was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition.
Guglielmi said evidence and videotapes linked both men to two earlier retail store robberies. He said the first holdup, at 7:50 p.m., was in a shop the 1900 block of E. 31st St. The second was at a mini-mart in the 2000 block of Maryland Ave. about 8 p.m.
Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Comments
The reporting on this shooting at the Sheraton has been appalling. First it was reported as a "machine gun" shooting. Subsequent reports have differed on the identity of the gun involved, but since only one shot was fired, that's immaterial. Could just as easily have been a home-built "zip gun." Now we learn that the two people who took down the shooter before he did any more damage are up on assault charges. How stupid is that?
Finally, this latest story includes a quote from some British police authority who says that criminals in the UK "...struggle knowing where to get the ammunition from...so they have to get creative, and refilling a shell of a bullet means a bullet isn't as potent when it's fired from the gun."
That is patent nonsense, as any gun enthusiast can attest. You can reload ammunition to have far greater muzzle velocity and immpact than what's supplied in factory ammo. The ammo suppliers are concerned with consistent, safe loads (i.e., ones that won't blow up the gun.) "Wildcatting"--crafting ever more powerful cartridges--is a bit part of the legitimate firearms hobby.
You guys really need to learn more about guns, if you are going to report meaningfully on gun violence.
From crime reporter Justin Fenton: Stan, I hear what you're saying about reloading ammunition. Except you're referring to "gun enthusiasts," ammo suppliers and the "legitimate firearms hobby." I don't think that the 16 year olds in poor neighborhoods who are trying to recycle ammunition because they can't find unfired rounds fit this category.
As for the changes in reporting on the hotel story, I can only tell you that the police initially reported that an Uzi was used in a triple shooting. The facts then changed as the day progressed, and our weekend reporter attempting to explain the weapons used since so many people were focusing on that aspect of the story.
Posted by: Stan M | December 8, 2009 11:52 AM
Maybe someone can ask the commissioner how I'm suppose to help "remove the scourge" of people firing automatic weapons downtown. This is just another example, like the idiots and morons quote, of colorful but meaningless pronouncements from Bealefeld. Calling criminals names does nothing to alleviate crime or make the streets safer. In fact, it's part of a pattern by the police department to minimize the seriousness of crime in this city.
It's not my job to remove any scourges. It's the commissioner's and the police's. That's what he and they were hired for. It's sad that he can't do better than name calling.
Posted by: john | December 8, 2009 3:29 PM