Mayor Sheila Dixon wasn?t happy.
And it wasn?t because of a state prosecutor?s corruption investigation looming over her head.
It was the 68 shootings and 24 homicides Baltimore suffered in the month of June.
“We had a rough week,” Dixon told The Examiner after seven people were killed in a span of three days in June. “Sometimes the criminal element understands our strategy maybe too much and then alters what they?re doing.”
Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld emerged a day later from a police meeting ? angry.
His beef? Robberies weren?t declining at a quick enough pace.
“I was pretty pissed off today,” Bealefeld said. “They know in the room when I?m happy and they know when I?m pissed off. In this business, there?s no room for people to miss your point. We?d be in a lot better shape if we were doing a better job on robberies. I?m demanding more.”
Dixon and Bealefeld easily could have been celebrating with homicides reaching a two-decade low.
Halfway through 2008, Baltimore police have tracked 104 homicides ? 56 fewer than the 160 this time last year.
The number also puts the city on pace for 208 homicides at year?s end ? nearly 80 fewer than last year?s 282 ? and the lowest pace since Baltimore finished 1983 with 201 slayings.
“I do notice the violence decreasing,” said defense attorney Margaret Mead, who has represented clients in an estimated 750 to 1,000 murder cases. “They are getting stricter about the guns. People are tired of it. Individual blocks and neighborhoods have said ?Enough.?”
But it?s the spurts of violence that have leaders concerned.
Twice in June, blocks of the city experienced homicides within days of each other.
In Federal Hill, Keyva Bluitt, 35, was killed June 20. Two days later, Stephan Walters, 24, was gunned down.
On Bloom Street, two homicides occurred on the same block ? days apart.
Brian Goodwin, 21, met his demise in the 500 block on June 19. Three days later, Romie Ziegler, 21, met the same fate.
“Bloom and Federal Hill are the same deals,” Bealefeld said. “We got hit by lightning in the same exact spot in both incidents. They were having wakes in the street on Bloom Street. Literally, the cops left their post to go handle something else, and we get hit again.
“[Southern District Major] Scott Bloodsworth was on Federal Hill the night of the secondmurder and had only been out of the area for an hour when it happened. It was incredibly dumb fortune. It had been 11 years since that block of Bloom had a murder. When?s the last time for Federal Hill? It?s got to be astronomical to have a murder on one of the streets.”
Bealefeld?s concern about robberies remaining a persistent problem in the city rings true to Harry Goodman, the owner of the St. Paul?s Cleaners in Charles Village, who was forced to shoot a knife-wielding robber in early June.
“He robbed me four times,” Goodman said of his assailant. “He?s the only one that?s ever done it.”
In past crimes, the robber implied he had a gun. This time, he lunged at the shop owner with a knife, Goodman said.
“It was more of a survival reaction,” he said. “There?s no winners out of this. It?s something I wish never happened. But I don?t respond to terrorists. I don?t change the way I do things because people are trying to terrorize me.”
Dixon empathized with Goodman.
“We don?t want to promote that. But what do you say?” the mayor asked rhetorically. “Here?s this businessperson frustrated over what?s taken place. He was defending himself. Just think about it: Four times. The same guy. You?ve got to deal with that.”
Goodman?s encounter was one of several high-profile crimes to grip the city?s attention over the month.
In early June, two small children, a 2-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl, were shot by suspected gang members.
Three women, all of whom had been convicted of prostitution, were strangled in different parts of the city. One of them, Nicole Sesker, 38, was the stepdaughter of former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm.
None of those cases has been solved.
Bealefeld said his detectives are working hard to close the cases.
“We have some pretty good information,” he said of the case of the two toddlers shot. “The big thing we lack are witnesses, people willing to come forward and say ?Yes, that?s him.? Until we get that level of cooperation, we won?t have a closure.”
Closures haven?t been quick for June?s homicides, either.
Four of the 24 killings have resulted in arrest. Police have closed 31 cases of the 104 homicides this year, or 30 percent, said police spokesman Sterling Clifford. They also closed 18 additional homicides from previous years.
State?s Attorney?s Office statistics for Baltimore City show 21 people have been indicted for this year?s homicides.
Through April, prosecutors have indicted 158 new shootings and weapons cases and convicted 88 defendants. Just over 50 defendants received five-year sentences without parole, while 12 defendants received a sentence of 10 years or more.
Mead said she believes a unified law enforcement emphasis punishing gun criminals ? and removing guns from the streets ? is making a difference in the murder rate.
The reason, Mead said, is many of Baltimore?s murders are caused by a deadly combination of stupid arguments and guns.
“It?s not as much about drug territory,” she said of the reasons for homicides. “It is more likely over some concept of disrespect ? one individual disrespecting another. Boys have always had fistfights. They?re going to have arguments. They?re going to have altercations. When you bring a gun into an altercation, somebody gets killed.”
