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Two shootings two miles apart; fear accompanies Baltimore violence

Posted at 5:58 PM, Oct 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-18 07:29:18-04

Police arrived here in the 2400 block of Baker Street shortly after eight o'clock in the morning where they discovered a 24-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

ALSO READ: 19 shot, 4 dead since Monday in Baltimore City

As firefighters began spraying down the victim's blood from behind a rowhouse, a nearby neighbor, Sharon Pernell, appeared visibly shaken.

"I was in the bathroom taking my bath and the next thing that I know, I'm hearing gunshots."

Pernell says she ran to the back of her home for safety.

The victim died a short time later at the Shock Trauma Center, and Pernell says she hasn't lived here long enough to know if this happens on a regular basis.

"Well, I really don't know.  I moved in here in July so I really don't know."

"But you know enough to keep your head down?"

"Right."           

About four hours later, just over two miles away in Southwest Baltimore, officers discovered a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso and back.

Witnesses say it was a drive-by shooting, and it appears shootings aren't uncommon here."I've lived here for a year, and there's probably already been like maybe five shootings," said a nearby neighbor, Judy Moore.

Moore says it's so bad here that she has pushed a tall sofa behind the front window that nobody sits on to block any stray bullets.

She has no faith that the violence will end any time soon. 

"I just wish that all that would go away you know.  I'm tired of having to worry about my kids,” said Moore, “I'm trying to save money to move so I don't have to worry about my kids getting hurt.  For some reason, I just don't honestly think it's going to change around here.  It's been too long.  It's been going on too long."           

Other neighbors said the victim on Saint Benedict Street suffered as many as five gunshot wounds, and he was still alive as paramedics loaded him into an ambulance although he was apparently having trouble breathing.