This summer Baltimore experience the worst mass shooting in the city’s history. It became known as the Brooklyn Day shooting or sometimes the Brooklyn Homes shooting and it happened early in the morning of July 2. Two people were killed and 28 more were injured. Police believe that 15 different people fired weapons.

This wasn’t just a mass shooting, it was a mass shooting of children. Fifteen of the victims were under the age of 18. The youngest person shot was 13-years-old.

The shooting quickly became national news and the city’s mayor, Brandon Scott, vowed he and police would not rest until the people responsible were held accountable.

Nearly two months later, only two people have been arrested and they are not the ones responsible for the two deaths. Monday, a site called Baltimore Brew published a report indicating that Baltimore police have shrugged off the help offered by the FBI and have decided to handle the case themselves.

Baltimore Police, working on their own, have made little progress in identifying who initiated the shootings and who fired the fatal bullets, not to speak of determining “what weapons they used, where they got those weapons and how we’re going to hold all of them accountable,” as Scott promised would happen…

Police have not yet apprehended anyone for the murders of 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi, nor for the wounding of 28 others…

One reason for the lack of progress is that Baltimore Police have refused to let federal law enforcement participate meaningfully in the investigation, according to a top-level official at the U.S. Department of Justice with direct knowledge of the situation…

“There is a strong, puzzling culture at the Baltimore Police Department that circles the wagon and says, ‘This is our business. We can take care of it. Thank you, but we got it.’ Unfortunately, they didn’t have it.”

Today the city released a 175-page after-action report noting a series of mistakes made by the city, starting long before the shooting. Brooklyn Day is a block party which happens in the Brooklyn neighborhood every summer. In 2022 the event, which starts in the early evening, was shut down early because police were concerned it could get out of hand. That angered many residents and police believed that this year the event might be advertised more quietly so as not to alter police in advance.

BPD’s Social Media Monitoring Unit did see evidence the block party was happening this year but on the day of the event no one was working in that unit. Throughout the afternoon as the crowd grew, police began getting calls about various problems connected to the event including disorderly conduct and a DWI car crash. When calls came in about people with weapons the police were slow to respond. I’m quoting this at length so you can get a sense of how this was developing:

July 1 / 9:41 p.m. – CFS: A call comes in at the 800 Block of Gretna Court for an Armed Person.2 Complainant states that “Hundreds of males and females are armed with guns and knives” at the location. This call is not assigned for response until 10:14 p.m. (approximately 30 minutes after the call came in). A subsequent radio transmission by an Officer in response to this call is made saying, “We might have to redirect that call to the National Guard then.” The dispatcher later indicates that the district is “10-12” or that no units in the district are available for new calls for service.

July 1 / 10:13 p.m. – 10:26 p.m. – Radio Transmissions: Dispatcher indicates the Armed Person call from 800 Block of Gretna Court is still pending a response. CitiWatch3 indicates there are 800 to 900 people at the location for a large party. Dispatcher indicates “So they are having a party.” An evening shift supervisor then responds “Yeah, I’m direct” when the dispatcher asks if they copy CitiWatch’s assessment of the party. Supervisor later indicates “Yeah, we are not going into that crowd.” The Supervisor then calls out “David No” (which means No Police Services Required) regarding the Armed Person call for Gretna Court.

July 1 / 10:26 p.m. – CFS: A call comes in reporting the Discharge of a Firearm at the 800 Block of Herndon Court (in close proximity of the Brooklyn Day events). Caller states that people are shooting and fighting. July 1 / 10:30 p.m. – Evertel4: Message indicates a statement from a patrol shift supervisor that the citizens “snuck in Brooklyn Day on us” and that there was a crowd of 800 to 900 people.

July 1 / 10:30 p.m. – CCTV and Radio Transmission: Shows a BPD-marked Explorer near Gretna Court and 9th St. which is believed to be occupied by more than one supervisor, one of whom is visible in the driver’s seat. The shift supervisor requests Foxtrot (Helicopter) to respond to the Southern District. A flyover by Foxtrot is conducted above the Brooklyn Day crowd. Foxtrot receives notification by Citywide Communications that the Southern District is requesting their presence. A Southern District Supervisor communicates with Foxtrot and requests a flyover near Gretna Court. “Down in Sector 1 near the homes,” references the crowd, and advises, “Let us know how far that crowd goes back, it’s quite a big crowd.”

July 1 / 10:35 p.m. – CFS: A call is received in Sector 1 for a discharging of firearm at the 800 Block of Herndon Court, which is near the location of the Brooklyn Day Events. The caller reports people shooting and fighting at the location. Another officer advises he is on scene and asks for any other units. Dispatch assigns this officer the call to respond. Foxtrot confirms fireworks are being discharged in the area. Foxtrot continues its flyover.

July 1 / 10:37 p.m. – Foxtrot Flyover: Foxtrot estimates 700 people at the location and communicates this to the Supervisor in the Southern District, who acknowledges then advises, “We got a call for discharging in the area, anything look suspicious?” Foxtrot responds: “No, negative. You have a lot of fireworks being discharged that are actually still going off right now. As far as the group inside the Brooklyn Homes, everything appears to be normal right now. They’re just walking around, hanging out.”

There were more calls and ShotSpotter alerts but police seemed to be downplaying it as just a party. There was a shift change at midnight and police were just monitoring the party. There were also so-called Safe Streets staff at the party that night and they had de-escalated several fights, but they all left the party by 11:30, about an hour before the shooting:

Gunfire erupted at a South Baltimore block party on Saturday, leaving two dead and 28 others wounded shortly after midnight. Earlier that night, four Safe Streets workers had monitored the Brooklyn Homes party and stepped in to calm minor arguments. Their shifts went from 3 to 11 p.m., and the crew left around 11:30 p.m., according to the nonprofit that operates Safe Streets in Brooklyn…

Community residents, for their part, have questioned why Safe Streets didn’t do more to intervene before the situation deteriorated further. Many have asked why police weren’t notified, though dispatch communications showed that law enforcement was aware of the party and reports that people there were armed, but chose not to do anything about it.

Beyond that, Safe Streets workers are explicitly trained not to involve law enforcement in their interventions, which maintains their credibility with communities who are distrustful of police after decades of antagonistic relations.

So the safe streets people knew there had been fights and that the party was close to getting out of hand at times but it’s their policy not to talk to the police so that information wasn’t passed on to anyone.

At 12:30, there was a call about a shooting followed by at least 26 separate calls for service from the area. Police started showing up as soon as 12:35 and were being directed to shooting victims by locals. This body cam video was released today. It has been blurred but it’s still pretty graphic.

Evidence gathering is another area where police have received a lot of criticism. The crime scene covered several blocks and police gathered evidence throughout the night. The next morning clean-up crews were seen sweeping up the area. Today’s report claims this didn’t create any evidence problems but does admit police continued to collect evidence as crews were cleaning.

Due to the area being rather large and covered with debris, it would be possible to overlook certain pieces of evidence. However, as debris removal was underway, which was requested by BPD, another canvass was also conducted and additional ballistic evidence was recovered and collected by CSU. The second response to the scene in the morning was for the recovery of additional items located by officers with the potential for DNA analysis. It was reported in the media that the crime scene may have been compromised by cleaning crews. When the HABC employees arrived, one crime scene technician stayed, in case new items were discovered when the bulk removal of trash was completed. A second scientist joined her when it became clear that the clean-up had resulted in finding more items of evidentiary value. The two techs were there for an additional seven hours collecting firearm and DNA evidence. Follow-up work is routine and incorporated in standard operating procedures for CSU activities.

I’m certainly not an expert on police procedure but I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work. A decent defense attorney will argue this scene was contaminated.

But again, the real problem is that police don’t seem to have anything in the way of suspects for the city’s worst ever mass shooting. BPD also doesn’t seem interested in any help from the FBI to find those suspects. My guess is there are dozens of people who know who started this but they are all familiar with the maxim “snitches get stitches” and are not stepping forward to help. There’s no statute of limitations on murder so this case can remain open for months or years to come. But you have to think that if police don’t make some arrests soon, they probably won’t be successfully closing these cases.