Five people were shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries at the intersection of North Eutaw and West Saratoga streets, a block up from the old Lexington Market building, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.
Investigators believe the Friday afternoon shooting was preceded by an argument in the 200 block of North Eutaw Street, and then one person pulled out a gun and opened fire, he said.
Officers believe the shooter was targeting one person but fired multiple shots and also hit four others. The victims are five men ages 38, 55, 58, 41 and 63, police said later in a media release.
Police found four of the victims at the scene, and were later notified that a fifth victim had walked into a local hospital with a gunshot wound.
The shooting occurred with beat patrol officers seated in a car less than 50 to 60 feet away, preparing to change shifts with another set of officers, he added.
“While at the red light, they jumped right into action,” Harrison said.
Harrison said he does not have a description of the shooter but that they fled south.
He urged anyone who saw anything to contact police.
“Please let us know so that we can find this shooter, hold this shooter accountable; so that we can ... make sure that this is not just a safe place to live, but a safe place to shop, a safe place to dine,” Harrison said.
Kirsti Lucas, 27, was fishing for something out of the trunk of her black Nissan SUV when she heard the screams.
”No, please!” she recalled someone shouting. “Please don’t shoot!”
Then, shots were fired as Lucas jumped into her car to flee.
”It’s messed up,” she said. “People who had nothing to do with it got hit with a stray bullet.”
Tyrone Wilson, 64, was heading into a store to get a cup of ice and a bottle of water on North Eutaw Street when he heard a sound that he originally thought was a backfire from a truck. Then, he heard the sound a couple more times.
Immediately, he began to run up the street but hit a wall and fell down.
Many other people were also running away with him.
Because, he said, “bullets don’t have no names.”
Harrison said the “brazen” shooting speaks to the “culture of violence” in the city, where perpetrators are not afraid of prison or death.
“We have to change that — through consequences, but [also] through changing people’s life conditions,” he said. “If we can change their life conditions where they don’t have to commit crime, that’s the way to do that.”
emily.sullivan@thebaltimorebanner.com
