3 killed in Baltimore in weekend violence
Bloody holiday stretch sees 2 fatal shootings, 1 fatal stabbing, 12 others shot
“As a city, we will not continue to allow our sons and daughters to be terrorized and slaughtered. We will combat violence in every way using every resource we have.” — Brandon Scott, president of the Baltimore City Council and the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor
A young food server who, her employer said, “brought a light into the room,” was among three people slain in Baltimore during a bloody Labor Day weekend.
In addition to the three people who were killed, 10 men and two women were injured by gun violence in the city. Among them was a 39-year-old food delivery man attempting to fill a customer’s order. The gunfire began Friday evening.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison wrote in an email that department leaders strategized in advance and obtained “additional resources to cover the city” in anticipation that violence might escalate this weekend, as it has historically in Baltimore and in other cities nationwide during holidays.
“I am committed to creating a safer city and continue to ask our residents to join me in confronting this culture of violence,” Harrison wrote. “While we experienced a number of violent incidents with multiple victims, investigators continue to look for evidence in these cases and we implore citizens to share any additional knowledge about these incidents with detectives.”
Citizens with information about the shootings can call detectives at 410-3962100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1866-7Lockup.
Brad McCarthy, owner of Maryland Blue Crab House in Dundalk, identified the female fatality as Melissa Hefty, who had worked as a server at the seafood restaurant for two years.
“She was just always happy and had a lot of customers here that loved her,” McCarthy said, adding that the restaurant would hold a future fundraising event to benefit Hefty’s children. “It is definitely tragic that that had to go down.”
Police found Hefty at around 5:26 a.m. Saturday when they responded to a report of a shooting in the 2500 block of W. Lexington St., in the Lexington area of west Baltimore. She had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead by medics. A man with gunshot wounds to his body was also found at the scene and was being treated at a local hospital.
Also slain Saturday was a 28-year-old man who was found by police in the 3800 block of Brooklyn Ave. in Brooklyn. He had been stabbed in the chest and neck and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died, police said.
The weekend’s third homicide victim was killed at around 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. He and another man were found by police suffering from bullet wounds in the 100 block of Payson St. in Lexington. Medics took both victims to a local hospital, where one died. Investigators later learned that two other men injured in the same shooting had also sought hospital treatment, police said.
A 39-year-old delivery man was fighting for his life Monday after he was shot just after midnight in Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood. He was shot in the head and robbed at around12:25 a.m. in the 600 block of Chestnut Hill Ave. while attempting to fill a food order, police said. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.
There also were several shootings over the weekend in which people were less seriously injured. They were:
• At 9:32 p.m. Saturday, police found a man who had been shot in the shoulder in a car in the 200 block of Monastery Ave. in the Allendale neighborhood of west Baltimore.
• At 12:33 p.m. Sunday, police said they found a 22-year-old man with gunshot wounds in his body in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Ave. in the Upton neighborhood.
• At 10:45 p.m. Sunday, three men and a woman were shot and injured in the 4900 block of Cordelia Ave. in the Langston Hughes area of northwest Baltimore. Police found a 55-year-old man who had been shot in the elbow. Investigators later learned of three other people also injured in the shooting who sought went to the hospital for treatment on their own: a 27-year-old man shot in the arm, a 21-year-old man shot in the foot and a 38-year-old woman shot in the leg.
• At 1:55 p.m. Monday, police said, a 51-year-old woman was shot in the buttocks as she walked in a back area of the 2400 block of Lakeview Ave. in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood. She told police a man walked up to her wearing a black face mask, shot her and possibly drove off in a purple or burgundy car. She was being treated at a local hospital.
Police also said Monday that a 30-yearold man who had been shot in the foot at 5:45 p.m. Friday and went to a city hospital for treatment actually had been injured outside city limits, and not near Pratt and Monroe Streets as it initially was reported.
“The amount of violence over the holiday weekend is beyond unacceptable,” Brandon Scott, president of the Baltimore City Council and the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor, wrote in an email.
“As a city, we will not continue to allow our sons and daughters to be terrorized and slaughtered. We will combat violence in every way using every resource we have.”