Teen Arrested After Baltimore Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 28 Injured

A 17-year-old was arrested Friday and charged with gun felony charges as detectives investigate whether he was involved in a shooting at a block party in Baltimore on Sunday that killed two people and injured 28 others, police said.

In a statementBaltimore police described the teen as a “young person of interest” in the shooting and said he had been charged with possession of a firearm by a minor, possession of assault weapons, reckless endangerment and having a gun in a vehicle.

The teen, who has not been publicly identified, has not been charged with the neighborhood party shooting, though the statement said detectives believe he was “involved” in the deadly gunfire that traumatized many in the city’s southern Brooklyn neighborhood.

Members of the city’s homicide unit and SWAT team arrested the teen at 7 a.m. after executing a search warrant, police said.

The arrest marked the first possible breakthrough in the investigation into the Baltimore shooting, which was staggering for the sheer number of victims even in a city long plagued by gun violence.

Fifteen of the injured victims were between the ages of 13 and 17, police said. The two dead were also young: Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, police said.

Three victims remained in hospitals on Friday, police said, and were considered to be in reasonable condition.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott said in a statement Friday that bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice was the city’s number one priority. 1 priority,” and that he was grateful to those “who had a hand in bringing in this interesting individual.”

“Today’s arrest is a signal that with the help of the community we can get justice for Aaliyah, Kylis and everyone affected by this tragedy – and the people of Baltimore have my word we won’t rest until we do.” “, he said.

Michael S. Clinkscale, the teen’s attorney, said his client told him he didn’t have a gun with him at the party. He stressed that the teen had not been charged with murder or attempted manslaughter.

“He’s a good young man and he says he was scared like everyone else,” Mr Clinkscale said in an interview on Friday. “He ran away from the shooting. He was actually shot in the lower left leg.”

The shooting raised questions about why there were no police officers at the block party around the Brooklyn Homes, the public housing complex at the center of the event. Although it has no set date, the party has been held every summer for 27 years and last year agents attended.

Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference Monday that the department learned of the party’s existence just “a few hours” before the shooting, which occurred just after 12:30 a.m. on Sunday. He said multiple weapons were used.

Commissioner Worley said the department had found advertisements or social media mentions of the party in recent years and sent agents to check them out. But this year, he said, analysts and one of the department’s top intelligence officers had found none of the posts. He also noted that no one had applied for a permit for the event, although he acknowledged that they had in previous years.

“We knew it was going to happen at some point, but we had no indication it would happen that day because we’d never seen any advertisements for it,” said Commissioner Worley.

Videos from the party showed hundreds of teens and youth dancing and singing along with local rappers. As they shouted and waved their hands in the air, many held up phones to capture the revelry on a hot summer night.

After midnight, those phones captured scenes of chaos and terror as teens ran from gunfire, people fell to the ground, and a mother wailed as she met officers at the crime scene where her daughter, Ms. Gonzalez, was fatally shot.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reporting contributed.