Former Baltimore City Councilman Kenneth Harris Sr., who was gunned down in front of a Northeast Baltimore Jazz club on Saturday morning, used to talk about growing up in Park Heights, the son of a single mother who was so poor she had him sleep in a dresser drawer, not a crib.
As a young man, he survived the streets of one of Baltimore’s deadliest neighborhoods, eventually graduating from Morgan State University, a journey he said gave him a sense of purpose.
“A lot of the people I grew up with are dead,” Harris recalled during the summer of 2005 as he wrestled with how to vote for a bill authorizing the city to borrow $300 million to build the controversial Hilton Hotel. “I know what it’s like.”
In the end, Harris, 45, voted in favor of the bond, casting a crucial swing vote. But he also made sure the deal included $9 million from the city to build recreation centers to keep city youth off the streets.
“We need to give the young people alternatives,” Harris said at the time.
For many who knew the two-term councilman, the vote was symbolic of a man who survived the city’s mean streets, but never forgot his connection to them — a bond that was heartfelt and born of experience.
“He was a real person, not a politician,” said former City Councilman and colleague Keiffer Mitchell Jr. “And he was a friend, too, which is a rarity in politics.”
“He had a way of bringing everyone together, white and black, a way of connecting the community and making things happen,” said Baltimore Police Sergeant Louis Hopson, a long-time friend. “Ken actually cared, and he was not afraid to speak up.”
Harris, who joined the city council in 1999 and served two terms before an unsuccessful run for City Council president in 2007, was shot in the chest during a robbery of the Haven Lounge in the Northwood Shopping Plaza early Saturday morning.
Three armed robbers — hiding their facers with bandannas and ski masks — accosted Harris and Haven Lounge owner Keith Covington as they exited the bar. One of robbers put a gun to Covington’s head and forced him inside to empty the safe, police said.
Harris tried to escape in his car. But one of the gunmen chased Harris and shot him once in the chest. Harris drove several blocks before crashing his vehicle on a grassy knoll near a gas station.
He was pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Hospital around 2 on Saturday morning, police said.
Covington fired three shots at the suspects as they fled out the back of the bar, but police do not believe he hit any of them. Police do not have any suspects, but have interviewed several witnesses, including a passenger in Harris’ car.
“We found the owner’s wallet and a mask several blocks from the club,” said Sterling Clifford, a Baltimore City police spokesman.
The brutal slaying marked a cruel irony for a man who spent much of his career focused on public safety — a focus that often put him at odds with the city’s police department.
Harris was an outspoken critic of arrest quotas, taking a public stance against the city’s emphasis on making thousands of arrests for quality of life crimes.
“Our officers are being given the wrong marching orders — we can’t arrest our way out of the crime problem,” Harris told the Examiner in 2006.
He also was a proponent of community style policing, introducing a resolution in 2006 that sought to move officers from specialized plainclothes units and move them into patrol cars.
“There is no blanket solution that replaces police presence and knowledge of the neighborhood,” Harris at the time.
City leaders were shocked at Harris’ death.
“It’s just really hard to wrap your mind around it,” said City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake after a press conference at police headquarters on Saturday morning.
Mitchell said: “I can’t believe I’m talking about my friend in the past tense, and as a homicide victim.”
The murder of Harris, who is survived by his wife, Annette, and his son Kenneth Jr. and daughter Nicole, resonated across the state, as political leaders and Harris’ former constituents mourned the tragic slaying.
“The death of Ken Harris is incredibly sad for the city of Baltimore and our entire state,” Gov. Martin O’Malley wrote in a statement.
“Ken was a loving husband and father, a steadfast advocate for the people of his district, a strong independent voice for the neighborhoods of Northeast Baltimore and a great friend to so many.”
Meantime, at a Giant grocery store Harris used to frequent not far from his district, an employee grieved the loss of the amicable politician.
“He really helped me out when I need help,” said Duane East, 44. “He would do things for average people, the little guy.”
