Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III ordered a renewed crackdown Sunday on suspected gang activity in the downtown area in response to a weekend shooting at Baltimore's Inner Harbor attributed to rival gang members.
The Saturday night incident, which took place despite a summer-long increase in police presence downtown, left two young men wounded. Bealefeld said he has directed officers to more aggressively stop and question young people who wear gang colors and misbehave by the waterfront.
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, sounding frustrated in her first comments on the incident, stressed that such violence "isn't happening in Woodlawn and it isn't happening in Columbia." She called for police officers to watch the area more closely.
In late spring, random assaults linked to youths roving downtown, including the Inner Harbor, prompted police to add three dozen officers to the area. Some of the violence was blamed on suspected gang activity.
The show of police force seemed to be working, with no major crimes in July and key business leaders expressing satisfaction with the city's response.
But on Saturday around 10 p.m. - shortly after an Orioles game let out - at least one gunshot was fired inside the Light Street Pavilion of Harborplace near Phillips Seafood restaurant and Lee's Ice Cream. A 20-year-old man was struck in the calf and a 16-year-old boy was hit in the right forearm, police said. Both victims are suspected members of a Bloods faction, Bealefeld said. Neither had life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Detectives recovered a shell casing and were reviewing video surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses Sunday. They had not made any arrests and were seeking tips from anyone who might have information about those involved in the shooting.
The crime occurred on private property - the pavilion is owned by General Growth Properties Inc. which has its own security force - but Bealefeld said the city police department is accountable.
"We don't need gang members coming downtown to be disruptive and disorderly and lawless," Bealefeld said. "That is our responsibility. We should be talking to those folks." The commissioner spent Sunday meeting with his command staff and said he made his expectations "abundantly clear."
The mayor, in an interview, said she plans to make unannounced visits to the Inner Harbor area to observe the atmosphere that tourists and others are encountering. More officers aren't needed, she said, just the "right police" who will pay close attention to troublemakers.
