At least two people died and 28 others were injured in a shooting at a block party in Baltimore on Sunday, police said.
The motive for the shooting, which was reported at 12:30 a.m. in Baltimore’s southern Brooklyn borough, was unclear.
Police said detectives were reviewing video footage to try to identify a suspect. Early Sunday afternoon, about two dozen officers and detectives remained at the scene of the shooting, which occurred in a public housing development called Brooklyn Homes.
An 18-year-old woman was found dead at the scene and, shortly after, a 20-year-old man was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement.
Several more people suffered gunshot wounds, the city’s acting police commissioner, Colonel Richard Worley, said at a news conference Sunday morning.
At the press conference, Brandon Scott, the city’s mayor, called the shooting a « reckless and cowardly act. »
« This morning, all of Baltimore is in mourning, » he said.
He added that the shooting highlighted the need to address « the excessive proliferation of illegal guns on our streets and the ability for those who shouldn’t have them to get their hands on them. »
Mr. Scott said in a statement that in response to the shooting, his office reportedly put resources into the neighborhood « focused on addressing trauma and stabilizing the neighborhood in partnership with community-based organizations and city agencies. »
Police said 28 people were injured, although hospital officials gave conflicting tallies in what one official said was still « fairly fluid ».
MedStar Harbor Hospital treated 19 people with gunshot wounds in its emergency room, said hospital spokeswoman Debra Schindler.
Nine of the patients were stabilized and transferred to trauma centers around the city, and nine others were released. One patient, a 17-year-old, was still hospitalized on Sunday morning.
« Multiple critically injured patients were evaluated and triaged simultaneously by clinical staff, while hospital security handled the throngs of family members who gathered in and outside the emergency room, » Ms. Schindler said.
The University of Maryland Medical Center treated 16 patients, said a hospital spokesman, Michael Schwartzberg. A dozen people were treated at the hospital’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and four people were treated at its pediatric emergency room.
