The annual Brooklyn Day celebration started with pony rides, snowballs and dancing, then turned into a scene of terror as gunfire killed two people, wounded 28 others and sent hundreds of terrified revelers running for cover in the South Baltimore neighborhood early Sunday. It was a shocking event even in a city accustomed to violence.
As investigators combed the sprawling crime scene Sunday and city officials flooded into the Brooklyn Homes housing project with food, diapers and lists of resources, residents questioned why police weren’t at the festival, which has been going on for 27 years and is usually well patrolled.
“Where was the police presence yesterday during the event?” a resident demanded of city officials at an afternoon news conference. “There was not one officer out here yesterday.”
Baltimore Police acting Commissioner Richard Worley said police did not know about the “unpermitted” event until sometime Saturday. “My job is to investigate to see what our officers did once we figured out there was a large party,” he said. “If we made mistakes, we will fix them so that this never happens again.”
The victims were identified as Kylis Fagbemi and Aaliyah Gonzalez, according to a flyer from Metro Crime Stoppers, which offered $8,000 for information leading to an arrest and charges.
Worley said police were looking for at least two gunmen. Videos circulating widely on social media showed a young man pulling a large semi-automatic weapon out of his bag and young people hopping a fence to flee the shooting scene.
Officers found 10 wounded people near the 800 block of Gretna Court, including one 18-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at the scene and a 20-year-old man who was taken to a hospital, where he died. Twenty more wounded people walked into hospitals, Worley said. Of the injured, 14 are under the age of 18 and nine people remain hospitalized, he said.
Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, who represents the neighborhood, said she was angry about the lack of a police presence at the festival. ”The fact that there were no police officers here is an immense systemic failure,” Porter said, as she stood near the scene. In a written statement, Porter clarified there were “multiple levels of system failure from various agencies.”
“Brooklyn has always and forever been a neglected community,” Porter said at the afternoon news conference. Porter said she has requested a city council hearing Wednesday to determine why police were not present.
The story continues at the Baltimore Banner: After South Baltimore mass shooting leaves 2 dead, 28 wounded, police staffing questioned
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