Last Friday, Baltimore kicked off its “Nobody Kill Anybody” weekend. The ceasefire was set to last 72 hours.
“The goal is for everyone in the city to know that Baltimore is committing to no shootings, no stabbings, etc…” the Baltimore Ceasefire’s Facebook page wrote. “No murders during the first weekend in August. WE CAN DO IT! Let’s go.”
Unfortunately, the city only made it 41 hours before a 24-year-old man was shot and killed. A few hours later, a 37-year-old was also fatally shot.
Sunday morning, activist Erricka Bridgeford, who spearheaded the campaign, reminded Baltimore residents that – despite the fateful events of the night before – the ceasefire was not over.
“The #BaltimoreCeasefire has NOT ended,” Bridgeford posted to Facebook. ” If you are going to run around here acting defeated, A. Part of me wants to give you this nub to your eye, and then, to hug you, and B. You are not ready for this revolution. It’s fine. But please sit down & quiet yourself. Stop panicking out loud. Find a corner & watch us keep GETTING THIS WORK.”
Thankfully, the final day passed without incident. However, an hour after the ceasefire ended, yet another shooting occurred.
While the city witnessed two more murders that weekend, many still considered the event to be a success.
“I would point to Friday,” Corneilius Scott of Mothers of Murdered Sons and Daughters told Fox News. “There were no killings on Friday and how often does that happen?”
For a city that averages roughly a murder a day, that’s pretty rare.
So far this year, Baltimore has recorded 211 homicides. At this rate, 2017 may steal 1993’s title as the city’s deadliest year on record; in 1993, Baltimore documented 353 homicides.
Last year, the Maryland city recorded 318 homicides – the third deadliest year in its history (2015 is second). Clearly all those gun laws aren’t doing the trick.
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