There was chaos over the weekend in the Inner Harbor section of Baltimore. Video, which you can watch below, shows more than 200 teenagers brawling in the streets. At least two people were shot.
What’s even more shocking is that the gunfire and fighting happened in the presence of police officers.
“Either they don’t care about consequences, they don’t believe the consequences and they have no respect for human life or the sanctity of life or authority — to pull off that brazen, cowardly act right there in the presence of police officers,” police commissioner Michael Harrison told television station WBAL.
“If someone will pull a gun out 50 feet or less from a police officer and pull the trigger, then clearly it’s not solely a police issue,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said during a news conference.
The mayor said he would be imposing a curfew for minors later in the Spring.
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“We will do our part to make sure that we protect our young people, but we need not just our community organizations and professionals, everyone to work with the young people this summer,” Scott said. “I should not be talking to 10- and 11-year-olds on Pratt Street after a shooting happened in Baltimore City where young people have been shot and they don’t know where their parent is. We can’t be a city, we won’t be a city where we allow that to happen.”
Parents and community organizers, however, balked at a curfew for young children.
“We’re criminalizing the parents instead of helping out,” a parent said in 2014. “A bad idea with good intentions.”
The Baltimore City District Public Defender Marguerite Lanaux, a leftist, told CBS News the curfew will have a negative impact on children.
“It must just be to restrict the movement of youth, which is ultimately going to encourage unnecessary police interaction with mostly Black and brown kids in the city,” Lanaux said.
In other words, Baltimore, brace for a violent summer.