Seventeen people were shot over the weekend in Baltimore, including four who died, bringing attention to a rise in the murder rate after a decline last year. The homicide toll so far this year is up 12 percent from last year to 272. Nonfatal shootings have jumped 22 percent over that span to 634, the Wall Street Journal reports. Homicides are up in some other U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City. In Chicago, by contrast, police say homicides are down 11 percent compared with last year, and down 31 percent from 2016, when killings soared there.
Baltimore’s violence over the weekend included an apparent road-rage incident in which a 2-year-old boy was shot in his stomach as he was riding in a car. Police believe the incident began when a driver honked at another car for not moving after a traffic light turned green. “Crimes like this simply cannot and will not be tolerated in a civilized society and in a great city like Baltimore.,” said Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. Police on Monday charged a 33-year-old man with attempted murder, assault and handgun-related charges. The national murder total fell 6.8 percent in 2018, the second straight annual decline. The drop was even greater, 7.5 percent, in 30 large cities tracked by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. Even with last year’s decline, Baltimore still had more than 300 homicides for the fourth straight year. Overall violent crime is flat. Carjackings are up sharply, while robberies and rapes are down. The police department has its fifth commissioner since 2015. The union representing rank-and-file officers has sparred with Harrison over his plan to tackle crime, which focuses in part on targeting “micro zones” beset with high crime.