One Baltimore resident and grandmother who helped a teenage girl shot during a holiday block party over the weekend said teens in her community use guns because it is “all they know, and it’s sad.”
Charlene Bowie, 66, told the Associated Press that she saw a huge crowd of mostly teenagers on Sunday just before the suspects opened fire, leaving two dead and wounding 28 others.
“They were having fun in the beginning, but you know kids … they started drinking and they [were] getting all out of order,” she said, referencing the young people at the party. “It hurts so bad because they haven’t begun to live. They don’t even know what life is, they don’t. All they know is guns. That’s all they know, and it’s sad.”
Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, were identified by police as the two killed. The 28 injured victims ranged in age from 13 to 32, officials said, and more than half are younger than 18.
Resident Ashley Johnson speaks with Baltimore Police officers about the mass shooting incident in the Southern District of Baltimore, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Authorities are continuing to search for the suspects who opened fire at the party.
Bowie initially got involved when she called the police and told her 15-year-old granddaughter to come inside, she told the AP. She then heard gunshots and a bullet struck her air conditioner, which caused a piece of it to break off and hit her granddaughter, who she confirmed was not hurt.
Bowie and her daughter were laying on the floor when she “heard some banging on the door – boom, boom, boom, real loud,” she said.
“So I come down and got the door [and there was a] little girl laying on my steps, shot,” Bowie said.
A police officer moves a scooter in the area of a mass shooting incident in the Southern District of Baltimore, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
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Using a rag from her home, Bowie said she tied a makeshift tourniquet around the girl’s leg and attempted to keep her calm.
“I just kept talking to her so she wouldn’t get panicky, you know,” Bowie explained.
Bowie told AP that learning young people were killed in the shooting was especially painful for her as she lost her son, 19, and her grandson, 15, to gun violence in separate shootings.
A police officer stands in the area of a mass shooting incident in the Southern District of Baltimore, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Sunday’s shooting remains under investigation after police spent hours combing a massive crime scene in the Brooklyn Homes area, which is located in the southern part of the city.
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Police have not announced arrests in the shooting as of Tuesday morning.
Richard Worley, Baltimore’s acting police commissioner, said it wasn’t clear if the shooting was targeted or random.
A person looks out the front door of a home as police tape surrounds the area of a mass shooting incident in the Southern District of Baltimore, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
He said police believe there were multiple shooters at the event, which is held every July to celebrate the south Baltimore neighborhood.
“We don’t know exactly how many, but we do know more than one person was shooting,” Worley said.
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Gov. Wes Moore issued a response to the shooting, saying his “heart breaks for these victims, their families, and the Baltimore community that is coping with the loss.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
