Police said, at least one person lost his life when an unidentified gunman opened fire into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday afternoon cookouts along a West Baltimore street.
CNN quoted police spokeswoman Chakia Fennoy as saying that the incident took place on the 2500 block of Edmondson Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland.
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the gunfire erupted after 5 p.m. on a block in the city’s western district of brick row homes. Harrison said a man approached a crowd on foot and began firing in what he called “a very tragic, very cowardly shooting.” Speaking at the scene afterward, Harrison said the shooting appeared “extremely targeted,” but he didn’t provide a possible motive.
The state media noted that in the incident, reported after 5 p.m., around seven people were indiscriminately shot at. One person was found dead near Perkins Square Baptist Church, while the six others, including men and women, were shifted to the hospital. The victims were both male and female, Harrison said. Their identities and conditions are unknown. Harrison said that the adult man who died ran behind a nearby church and collapsed.
Based on the presence of two sets of shell casings on the scene, detectives are also trying to determine if another person returned fire, the commissioner said. “What we believe is that there was a second shooter, perhaps firing back, but it is still unknown,” he said.
Detectives are trying to determine if the cookouts on opposite sides of the street were related or any other possible connections among those present.
Harrison said, “We know that many people were out here. Detectives are now trying to locate victims so that we can find out who was here so that we can learn what happened.”
Acting Mayor Bernard Young echoed the sentiment in appealing to the public for information. He said, “Someone knows something. When these things happen, they don’t happen by happenstance. People know who’s going to these shootings and who’s targeting different people.”
