Dozens of residents of Baltimore City?s Park Heights neighborhood gathered Saturday to call attention to a crime wave they say has not been adequately addressed. They claim a serial killer is preying on women in the community.
“Two weeks ago, another young woman was found on the train tracks,” protest organizer Darren Mohammad said.
“Seven to 15 women have been killed since July. The police are not responding.”
He said two women?s bodies were found behind a Rite Aid, two more off Spaulding Avenue and one near Park Heights and Belvedere avenues. Baltimore City police have admitted the murder rate was up in September in the Northwest district, which includes lower Park Heights.
According to police statistics, four homicides occurred in August and five in September ? an increase over three each in June and July and one in May. Police say all of the murders were drug related, not the work of a serial killer, and only one victim was a woman. But community activist James Green argued that the state Medical Examiner?s Office has under-reported the number of murders in the community. “The same medical examiner that said these murders aren?t happening are the same people that ruled Robert Clay?s death was a suicide,” he said.
Clay was a Baltimore activist whose death from a gunshot wound to the head was ruled a suicide by the medical examiner, a ruling that friends and family contend is wrong.
“There is a history of ignoring the citizens of Park Heights, but I am deeply concerned that there is a serial killer in the neighborhood,” said Green Party gubernatorial candidate Ed Boyd, who attended the protest and told the crowd that he stood with them. Police Maj. Rick Hite, who also attended the protest, said the police department was concerned.
“If the people in the community have the perception that their women and children are not safe, then we are going to respond,” he said.
