A day after a 16-year-old girl was shot twice in the wrist in Fells Point, large crowds gathered at the popular nightspot into the early hours of Sunday morning, according to FOX45, though no violence was seen. Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley was on site throughout.
Police had earlier said they were notified at 2 a.m. Saturday morning that a teen girl had been in the 800 block of South Broadway when she was involved in a physical altercation and an unidentified man shot her. The victim, who had two gunshot wounds in her right wrist, reportedly approached a nearby fire department medic who transported her to a hospital. Police said she is in stable condition.
Fells Point restaurant owner and chef, Ashish Alfred, who owns Duck Duck Goose and Osteria Pirata in the Admiral Fell Inn hotel, talked to FOX45 Sunday about disturbances in the area.
“I’m a chef and I know the recipe for bread pudding, mashed potatoes, steak,” he said. “I also know the recipe for disaster is a bunch of children, being allowed to drink alcohol, carry guns and not being held accountable.”
The police department began amping up its presence in the Fells Point neighborhood late last month in an attempt to get ahead of late-night summer violence that can sometimes result from evening gatherings in the area, department spokesperson Freddie Talbert said. Baltimore Police is assigning more officers to the area in the late night hours, increasing foot patrols and ramping up business checks.
Violent crimes in Fells Point are down 14% this year compared to the same dates in 2023, according to city data. Meanwhile, property crimes are down 25%. In 2022, there were 155 violent crimes reported in the neighborhood, which dropped to 130 in 2023.
On Saturday night into Sunday morning, some in the crowd threw bottles at police officers, including the commissioner, FOX45 reported.
The late-night summer crime in the area has historically been a source of tension between business owners and the city. After three people were shot late at night in Fells Point in 2021, local business owners threatened to withhold taxes in a letter sent to the city in June 2021 if it failed to address the violence. The letter was also partly in response to then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s policy she announced earlier that year to not prosecute drug possession, public drinking and urination and trespassing crimes.
Current State’s Attorney Ivan Bates has said he is working to address those crimes. Bates told The Baltimore Sun that his office is working to hold offenders of those crimes accountable through community service and other forms of punishment aside from prosecution. And Mayor Brandon Scott’s office has implemented a curfew aimed at keeping young people safe.
“I believe in our mayor and I believe, I believe he wants to do the things he says he wants to do. All I ask is why are we shutting the streets down instead of enforcing the law,” Alfred said to FOX45. “I’ve heard Mr. Mayor say that we can’t chastise Black kids for being Black and being outside. I agree. But I don’t believe we solve the injustices of this world, by dealing [with] a generation of children [by allowing them] to behave however they want, wherever they want.”
