A man was fatally shot Tuesday night in East Baltimore, and police were also investigating a suspicious death after the partially burned body of a man was found hours later in Northeast Baltimore.
In the shooting, reported at 10:22 p.m. in the 700 block of E. Eager St., police said the 35-year-old victim was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and head. Medical crews took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:30 p.m., according to police.
Investigators had no suspects and had yet to determine a motive.
Police said the body of the burned man was found about 4:25 a.m. Wednesday in the 5800 block of Moores Run Court. According to the city firefighters union, units responding to reports of a brush fire found the body.
A man was also shot in the groin about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday in the 1200 block of Edison Highway in East Baltimore. He was taken to an area hospital and was in good condition, police said.
May concluded with 13 homicides in Baltimore, one more than the lowest total ever recorded for the month since 1970, the furthest back that statistics are available. By comparison, 23 homicides occurred in May 2010, and since 1999, the city has averaged more than 21 homicides in the month.
It was the second month of 2011 that the city — still one of the most violent in the country, according to FBI statistics — marked a notable low, after there were just 10 killings in February, tying the lowest total of any February since 1970. That marked one of the lowest-ever monthly totals, lower even than February 2010, when the city was hit with heavy snowfall that some still cite as the major reason why homicides declined that year.
For 2011, the city is still ahead of last year's pace because of a spike in violence during April. The man fatally shot Tuesday night on East Eager Street became the city's 83rd homicide victim of the year, compared with 79 at this point in 2010. Ninety-five people had been slain by the same time in 2009.
