Many Questions, Few Answers After Brooklyn Homes Shooting

On July 13, the Baltimore City Council’s Public Safety and Government Operations Committee held a hearing to learn more about what took place in the hours leading up to the July 2 mass shooting at Brooklyn Homes.

Eighteen-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi were killed and 28 people were wounded at a Brooklyn Day event that has been held every year for the past 27 years.

The tone of the hearing, which lasted about four hours, was stern — with city leaders pressing Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley — as well as officials from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, and the Department of Transportation — for answers. 

In statements to the committee, Worley was clear that something went wrong — he said he just wasn’t sure what yet. 

“We received calls for various complaints throughout the day. There are multiple points at which the public was requesting assistance at which we should have had a broader understanding of what was happening on the ground, and we should have requested more resources for the Brooklyn Homes,” he said.

He told city leaders that police are working to investigate the incident, and were looking to produce a report in 45 days.

“They are currently reviewing body-worn camera footage, radio discussions, emails, text messages, and conducting in-person interviews to determine who knew what and when and what decisions were made or not made by whom,” he said.

City Council President Nick Mosby repeatedly pressed the issue of equity during the hearing. He said that he didn’t believe that wealthier, whiter sections of the city would have been ignored as Brooklyn residents asking for assistance were in this incident. 

“Why is policing in Baltimore always different depending on the socioeconomics of the community in which we’re policing?” Mosby asked.

“I don’t think it is,” Worley responded. He said that police in the city go where they are needed.

The police department argued that they couldn’t have known about the event because they often use social media to track large gatherings. As a result, some people “go underground” to hide this information.

Councilperson Phylicia Porter — who represents the 10th District, which includes Brooklyn Homes — pushed back against that claim.

“With regard to the social media intelligence, I just pulled up Brooklyn Day on my Instagram right now, and you’re telling me that we have an entire unit associated with this, and they weren’t — they didn’t pick that up?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s one of the after-action things that we want to look at,” Worley responded.

During the part of the hearing reserved for public comment, Baltimore City NAACP President Kobi Little had stern words for Mayor Brandon Scott, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Housing Authority of Baltimore City.

“I was very disappointed by your testimony, Madam CEO,” he said to Housing Authority President and CEO Janet Abrahams. 

“I did not hear any mea culpa. I did not hear any discussion of the many, many things that the Housing Authority could have done to be in touch with this community. I didn’t hear it said tonight, but there are over 150 people who are in arrears in their rent in Brooklyn to the tune of close to half a million dollars, and that’s been going on for, now, five years. And if anybody knows that information, I don’t know how they cannot know that there is a crisis waiting to happen in that community.”

Little also reminded the council that the NAACP has called for a national search for the city’s next police commissioner, along with a more inclusive nomination process. 

“We told you guys this incident was going to happen,” he said. “This is why you need community engagement on the front end.”

On July 17, Scott officially nominated Worley to be the city’s next police commissioner.

A second hearing about the deadly shooting is scheduled for September 13 at 1 p.m. at Baltimore City Hall.

Angel Reese Receives a key to the city

It can be scary to say what you mean and stand on it, but that’s what LSU Tigers basketball star and Baltimore native Angel Reese did in April when she faced public backlash following her team’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship win. 

Some said Reese wasn’t being sufficiently humble in victory after she waved her hands in front of her face, mimicking a move that University of Iowa player Caitlin Clark had done earlier in the tournament. First Lady Jill Biden offered to host both teams at the White House,  and later backpedaled on the offer — but not before Reese rejected it, calling it “a joke.”

Since then, she’s been reaping the rewards of her hard work and her bravery with endorsement deals, a cameo in rappers Latto and Cardi B’s video for “Put It on Da Floor Again,” and more. On July 18, Mayor Brandon Scott presented Reese with a key to the city. 

“She is unapologetically passionate, unapologetically a Black woman, and isn’t afraid of a little competition,” Scott said at the City Hall ceremony. 

“I’ve been playing basketball for a really, really long time, and this moment right now is just for the girls that look up to me and being able to be unapologetically me,” Reese said. “Breaking the narrative of being able to be a Black woman in sports and being able to stand our ground.” 

“Hopefully, I can run it back next year,” she added.

The Saint Frances Academy graduate was also honored with a proclamation from the Baltimore City Council and, later that day, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Orioles game at Camden Yards.  

Reese is hosting a Back to School Giveback Block Party on August 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be held at Saint Frances Academy, 501 East Chase Street, and will feature free school supplies, bounce houses, a live DJ, and more. For more information, email: contact@angelcreesefoundation.org.

The post Around Baltimore: Police admit failures at Brooklyn Homes shooting, and honors for Angel Reese  appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Eighteen-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi were killed and 28 people were wounded in the early hours of July 2 following a daylong gathering in the Brooklyn Homes public housing complex. The Baltimore Sun reported that the Baltimore Police Department responded to multiple shooting reports at about 12:35 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of Gretna Court.

“A night that began as a boisterous block party — a quasi-family reunion for current and former neighbors — became a sprawling crime scene for what likely was the largest mass shooting in Baltimore history. In total, 30 people were shot, most of them teenagers,” The Sun reported. 

The “Brooklyn Day” event where the young people were killed has been held, according to The Sun, for almost three decades. There were hundreds of people in attendance. The incident quickly made national and international headlines. In its aftermath, city and state officials made sure to make shows of visible support.

A joint statement issued by Mayor Brandon Scott, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and the Baltimore Police Department blamed the incident on illegal guns.

“This tragedy again shows why we must continue to focus on the amount of illegal guns on our streets that make it into the hands of individuals who should not have them and continuously carry out violent acts in our city,” city officials said. “There must be accountability at each level of the illegal gun trade from those using them, those trafficking them to those who manufacture them in ways they know will lead to violence.

The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and other city agencies have also flooded the area with resources like fresh produce, mental health counseling, and wraparound supports. 

On the Fourth of July, Governor Wes Moore traveled to Baltimore to meet with community members. In a statement released the following day, he linked the gun violence here in Baltimore with another mass shooting event that happened on July 5 in Salisbury, Maryland.

“These incidents show that this scourge of gun violence is not something that any one community or any one group is wrestling with,” the statement read. “Whether you live in a big city or a small rural town, these tragedies impact all of us.”

However, leaders are also facing intense scrutiny following the incident. Initially, acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that the party wasn’t permitted and that police were caught unaware by the incident. 

Local media spent the days after the shooting scrutinizing police scanner transmissions, and what they found calls that assertion into question.

“The scanner transmissions confirm accounts given by many residents, who say they were calling police frantically, but got no response until gunshots rang out in the streets about 12:30 a.m.,” Baltimore Brew reported.

Other dispatches Baltimore Brew found: “A Southern District dispatcher told officers about ‘armed people’ as early as 9:45 p.m., but no concrete steps were taken to respond or investigate. One officer joked that the dispatcher should redirect the call ‘to the National Guard,’ while another remarked, ‘They say everybody got a gun or a knife.’”

“A tragic reminder that cops are under no legal or ethical obligation to keep you safe from harm,” activist group Organizing Black tweeted about the story. The group has organized actions to decrease funding to the Baltimore Police Department, arguing that diverting that money to other community resources would do a better job of improving safety in the city. “Community members often do way more than cops to intervene when there’s violence.”

“Police wouldn’t have protected anybody if they had been there that day,” artist, activist, and former NFL football player Aaron Maybin said in a video with his thoughts on the incident. “Police respond to crimes when they have already been committed. They don’t prevent them from happening, especially not to Black folks like us,” he said.

“We keep taking resources away from these communities that need them most desperately and we’re surprised that is happening when we decide to put them back too late,” Maybin said.

By July 7, the BPD said they had arrested a 17-year-old suspect in connection to the incident. The teen is charged with possession of a firearm by a minor, assault weapon possession, reckless endangerment, and handgun in vehicle.  

A fundraiser has been established for Gonzalez to help lay her to rest. A fundraiser has also been established to help lay Fagbemi to rest.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact homicide detectives at 410-396-2100. There is up to a $28,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and charges.

The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement is also encouraging residents needing direct support to reach out to them by phone at 410-929-5488 or via email at MONSE.VictimSupport@baltimorecity.gov.

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