Come to Mobtown, get beaten by lil' nigglettes!

[CountDeMoney]

Assaults on rise in downtown, Inner Harbor
Victims report attacks by bands of young people

May 31, 2009

An increasing number of Baltimore residents and tourists have been victims of random, unprovoked attacks in the downtown area over the past month by roving groups of young people, even as police beef up their presence around the Inner Harbor.

Many of the assaults, which have been reported in areas within walking distance of the harbor, follow a similar pattern. The victims report being attacked from behind while they walk, punched and kicked in the head and upper body by groups of males and females. Items are rarely taken, and few, if any, words are spoken.

Not even police are immune from the attacks: An off-duty officer from New Jersey said he and his girlfriend were beaten in the downtown area last weekend by males and females who he believed were gang members.

"In the past, we have never felt unsafe in your city, but we most certainly do now," George Williams, a 35-year-old patrol officer from Brick Township, N.J., wrote in a letter to Mayor Sheila Dixon. "Your office, as well as your police command staff, has an obligation to keep all citizens living in and/or visiting the city safe and that is simply not happening."

The attack involving Williams comes after several other violent incidents recently:

• About 9:30 p.m. April 25, a double stabbing and fight involving teens among a huge Inner Harbor crowd caused some businesses at the tourist attraction to close early.

• Three people were beaten in separate incidents May 9 in Mount Vernon, including a man who was knocked unconscious and lost two teeth about 11 p.m., and a woman who was assaulted from behind by a group of girls at 11:30 p.m.

• At 9:30 a.m. May 6, a 34-year-old man was attacked by three teenage boys as he walked in the Otterbein. The teens said nothing and took nothing, according to police, who believe they were all students.

• About 4 p.m. May 20, a man walking west of the Inner Harbor was accosted by 10 juveniles walking toward a light rail stop who took his BlackBerry. Police believe local high school students are responsible for the crime.

Such assaults are not restricted to Baltimore's upscale communities, but they come at a time as the city is working to restore confidence in its downtown areas after the stabbing. There are about 40 officers now working the waterfront most nights - up from a typical complement of 12 - and foot patrols have been increased in outlying areas.

Officials note that despite the rash of incidents, the downtown area remains among the safest in the city, particularly during peak business hours.

"Keeping residents and visitors safe in Baltimore is the highest priority for the mayor and this administration, and Commissioner [Frederick H.] Bealefeld [III] has assured the mayor that there will be increased visible presence and enforcement in the downtown area," said Dixon spokesman Scott Peterson.

Because assault and robbery statistics each encompass various types of attacks, the numbers do not capture the specific type of incidents seen recently. But police acknowledge anecdotally that there has been a rash of random attacks in the downtown area, and they have mobilized resources in response.

But privately, they are struggling to figure out how to prevent random attacks committed by juveniles who show no apparent motive. The problem, coupled with violence they say is associated with some downtown clubs and bars, is stretching police resources thin, with neighboring districts forced to lend officers to downtown areas.

"I don't know what's going on, but it's very clearly a behavior problem," said Councilman William H. Cole IV, whose district includes the downtown area. "I don't know how you can explain the phenomenon of randomly attacking someone. I also don't know how you search for it, if you're the police."

One of the women attacked in Mount Vernon said the teens gave no warning before accosting her and her boyfriend.

"My boyfriend said he heard someone say, 'Finish them off' a split second before it happened," Cristina Homa wrote in an e-mail to The Baltimore Sun. "I was punched in the back of the head, turned around and there was a mob of kids yelling at us and calling us names."

An area resident, who did not want to give her name, said she saw teens clutching a video camera one night as police worked to disperse a large, unruly crowd around the Belvedere hotel. The teens tossed the camera around as an officer tried to recover it, she said. Police were unable to confirm the incident.

Williams, whose New Jersey jurisdiction was ranked in 2006 as America's Safest City by a national publication, was visiting the city with his girlfriend, Marisa Parish, 29. He recounted how they were attacked on Lombard Street, not far from an area of bars and clubs, by four males and three females.

One of the males pulled a knife and put it to Parish's face as a female held her from behind. Two of the males started punching and kicking him, throwing him to the ground in a struggle. He said the males started kicking his head, neck and upper body, and one said, "You're dead."

Parish broke free and protected her boyfriend's head with her body, and was knocked unconscious. The attackers then scattered.

"They were using my head for a soccer ball - back and forth, back and forth," Williams said in an interview.

Williams, who is white, said he believes race played a factor, with one of the attacking teens, who were black, accusing him of shouting a racial epithet, which he denies.

But Williams said he was especially disturbed by what he described as a strong gang presence. He said he was told by city police officers that gangs had been moving into the area the past few weeks, and that not enough police were on duty to combat the problem. Williams said that officers told him there had been 11 similar assaults that night alone and that police believed the attacks were related to gangs.

Central District Maj. John Bailey rebutted those claims, saying police have stepped up their presence and that there is "no indication of any gang affiliation with any of this stuff."

"They don't come here wearing red and blue," Bailey said, referring to colors often associated with Bloods and Crips. "They're wearing normal clothes. I think these kids just become empowered by being in large groups. They're showing off for one another."

Police sources not authorized to comment agreed that the attacks could be juveniles simply acting out, but that gang initiation rituals have in the past been blamed for similar incidents.

Cole, who has recently been venturing out at night with police to observe the area's problems, said the department is doing an "outstanding job putting resources in place to nip whatever trend may be out there in the bud."

"I think the word is out that if you want to come down and act like a jerk, you can do it downtown, and we need to send a clear message that we're not going to tolerate it," Cole said.

Bealefeld and Dixon have spoken out about police shouldering too much of the blame and parents not controlling their children.

"Everybody thinks it's someone else's job to do everything," Bealefeld said on a recent radio appearance. "People have to step up and be accountable. Who's paying attention to these [kids]?"

Neighborhood activists in Mount Vernon believe several recent attacks there were related to a BYOB "bottle club" located in the basement of the Belvedere. The club has "Teen Takeova" nights on Saturdays, which sometimes have attracted hundreds of young people. Police and residents say the club has been the catalyst for a double shooting and a host of assaults and other complaints. They are pushing for the club to be shut down.

Robert F. Cherry, a former Baltimore homicide detective who heads the city's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, was jumped in that area last fall. A group of eight to nine young men stole his hat, then turned on him after he attempted to get it back. He was able to fight them off and was not seriously hurt.

Cherry confirmed the incident but declined to comment further. The union has been speaking out about deficient patrol strength downtown after off-duty officers were prohibited from working outside bars and clubs, and Cherry said he did not want to exploit the incident in which he was attacked.

In South Baltimore, police believe at least some of the attacks have been committed by area students. In an e-mail to residents, Southern District Maj. Scott Bloodsworth said additional officers have been assigned to the Inner Harbor during evening hours, and extra officers now patrol in Federal Hill and the Otterbein to assist with crowds and robbery prevention on Fridays and Saturdays.

Williams, the New Jersey officer, said that police "can only work with the tools they're given" and that he wrote to Dixon because he believes the city needs to provide more resources.

"They need to swamp the area with police officers, and that's not happening," Williams said in an interview. "When you wait for something to happen, this is what's going to happen."

[CountDeMoney]

Downtown gets riskier after dark
Tour finds more street crowds with nothing in particular to do

May 31, 2009

The city is different after the sun sets. Edgier. More eclectic. More energized. More youthful. More dangerous.

Recent violence is either out of control, as some residents and visitors suggest, or it's an exaggerated, isolated byproduct of a vibrant after-hours social scene that takes over neighborhoods north of the Inner Harbor as most people are climbing into bed.

City Councilman William H. Cole IV spends many weekend nights cruising through his district, which includes some of the city's hottest clubs, most attractive tourist areas and historic residential neighborhoods, from Federal Hill to Bolton Hill, with the Inner Harbor in between.

On a recent Saturday night into Sunday morning, Cole and the deputy director of the Parking Authority, Peter J. Collier, raced from bar to bar, fight to fight, cop call to cop call.

Any given night, teens and college kids packing bars and clubs mix with business people and visitors leaving steakhouses at the harbor, wedding parties share a lobby with an urban hip-hop club at the Belvedere and patrons seeking after-theater drinks mix with wide-eyed visitors to The Block. Couples strolling the waterfront promenade run headlong into packs of kids aimlessly roaming the streets.

"There's got to be a way for all this to coexist," said an exasperated Cole, standing in front of the Belvedere at Charles and Chase streets with a police commander, a community leader and the manager of Suite Ultralounge, which is in the basement and which the liquor board is trying to close.

On this night, there are only 60 kids at one of the underage events the club sponsors, and manager Louis Wood has promised police he would turn off the music by 11 so they can get out, find a bus and get home before the midnight curfew. Wood told Cole and police Maj. John Bailey that he's severed ties with one promoter and is phasing out the large underage dance nights, though it might be too little too late.

"He knows he's on thin ice," Bailey told the councilman. "He's very aware that he might lose everything."

Crowds downtown are not unusual, nor should they be discouraged. "What is unique now is that we have so many young people coming here with nothing to do," Cole says. "They aren't going to clubs. They aren't going to dinner, they're hanging out. And people with nothing to do get into trouble."

The tour with Cole and Collier showed a side of the city we too often only hear about thirdhand; after the bedlam has subsided, the only thing left are the stories. Gangs, hoodlums, people beaten at random and for no reason are how victims and witnesses describe the scenes. Unsupervised youths with nothing to do, picking fights and intimidating others has been how the cops describe the scenes.

In the past several months, people have been shot in front of the Belvedere, stabbed during a disturbance at the Inner Harbor that prompted restaurant owners to keep patrons inside, and others have been beaten on downtown streets for no apparent reason. On Thursday, a man was shot and killed near Oriole Park.

City officials have played down crime downtown for years to project a utopia-like, family-style brand, and the Inner Harbor and streets reaching north into Mount Vernon and Bolton Hill are still among the safest and best-policed areas in the city. But as evening turns into night and night turns into early morning, the atmosphere shifts - it's always noisy, frequently intimidating and sometimes violent.

During happy hour, patrons can sip a dry martini at the Belvedere; at night, it's "Takeova Teen Nite." By day, the Masons run a stately lodge in Bolton Hill; at night, it's turned into a "Summer Swag, Get Wet" party. On Sunday mornings, it's fresh broccoli rabe at the Farmers' Market under the JFX; the night before, it's the Maryland Deathfest VII concert series.

I visited Deathfest with Cole after bands such as Hail of Bullets, Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer had finished, and 2,000 pierced and decorated patrons were slowly leaving the fenced-off area outside Club Sonar on Saratoga Street. It looked like the infield at the Preakness, before the bring-your-own-beer-ban. Cole noted how peacefully the people left, though the police major had earlier sent a squad of cops to stop the patrons from throwing bottles.

Across the street at Club One, a hip-hop club where just a few months ago two people were shot outside, the guards in bullet-resistant vests carrying flex cuffs were patting down customers and keeping people from congregating. "Ladies and gentleman," one guard told a group, "If you're coming in, get in line, or you're going to have to leave."

Cole smiled. "It's much better," he said.

On Water Street, four cops paid overtime by the Parking Authority stood guard at the city-owned garage between Market Place and The Block. This is where a few weeks ago one man tried to shove another man's face through a metal grate and near where four Canadian naval officers were beaten.

City cops and other officials have a hard time on any given night keeping up with which clubs are hot and which clubs are not. "It's a moving target," Cole said.

Driving up Calvert Street, Cole and Collier noticed a club across the street from a hotel advertising after-hours drinking. Neither city official had heard of the spot before. "Looks like they put a sign at night and it's nothing during the day," Collier said, noting a line of illegally parked cars.

Cops later rushed to two fights, one at Gay and Saratoga streets, the other at Calvert and Redwood. "It's going to be a long summer," one of the cops told Cole, who then turned his sport utility vehicle onto Baltimore Street through The Block, only to be passed by two speeding police cars and a prisoner van on their way to another fight.

By 12:30 a.m., as they do on most weekend nights now, police shut down traffic on East Baltimore Street and on North Calvert Street from the Inner Harbor to the courthouses. "It's come to this," Cole noted. "To keep control, we have to shut down streets."

Cole ended his night driving through Federal Hill, ecstatic to find a parking enforcement officer writing tickets for illegally parked cars near where two men were shot and killed last year in front of half-million-dollar rowhouses (gang members, police said, using the park for meetings), and a police officer shooing away people gathered near the park to chat.

Cole rolled down his window and called the parking officer over to thank him. Realizing who Cole was, the officer quickly adjusted his loose tie, but Cole waved him off. The councilman was so happy that at 12:45 a.m., he called Maj. Scott Bloodsworth, who was out working the Southern District he commands, to deliver some good news - city workers were indeed doing their job.

Just as we called it a night, Collier got an e-mail from the cops working the Water Street garage. Police from three districts were speeding toward the harbor.

The message read: "Market Place is out of control."

[Phillip V]

Should I encounter such a band, should I fight with all my might or would they escalate to murder?

[Scipio]

Should I encounter such a band, should I fight with all my might or would they escalate to murder?

Why the fuck would you go to Baltimore?

[jimmy olsen]

Should I encounter such a band, should I fight with all my might or would they escalate to murder?

Why the fuck would you go to Baltimore?

Maybe he's asking about the situation in general?

[Martinus]

Should I encounter such a band, should I fight with all my might or would they escalate to murder?

The problem with kid criminals (or kid soldiers) is that they are least likely to act reasonably. So the answer is probably the latter.

[CountDeMoney]

The problem with kid criminals (or kid soldiers) is that they are least likely to act reasonably. So the answer is probably the latter.

Yup. It's the 13 year old that'll shoot you in the face for dissin' an' shit.

[Weatherman]

Why don't you move away?

[Neil]

The problem with kid criminals (or kid soldiers) is that they are least likely to act reasonably. So the answer is probably the latter.

Yup. It's the 13 year old that'll shoot you in the face for dissin' an' shit.

So isn't the solution to shoot every black kid you see and call it self-defence?

[Razgovory]

Hey CdM, is Maryland a conceal and carry state?  What about just cops?  Here off duty cops are often packing.

[Slargos]

Downtown gets riskier after dark

Rich. 

[Eddie Teach]

Wow, Baltimore really is 3d world.

[CountDeMoney]

The problem with kid criminals (or kid soldiers) is that they are least likely to act reasonably. So the answer is probably the latter.

Yup. It's the 13 year old that'll shoot you in the face for dissin' an' shit.

So isn't the solution to shoot every black kid you see and call it self-defence?

You don't ever want to be white and accused of shooting a black person in this town, believe me.

[CountDeMoney]

Hey CdM, is Maryland a conceal and carry state?  What about just cops?  Here off duty cops are often packing.

Yes, with a good and compelling reason.  Unfortunately, that's a strictly limited definition.

Yes, offduty cops are packing.

[CountDeMoney]

 

2 men shot near Inner Harbor restaurant
Gunman escapes during chaos that followed shots at Light Street Pavilion

Baltimore police were investigating a double shooting Saturday night outside an Inner Harbor restaurant just moments after people had approached officers to say that they had seen a man in the area with a gun.

Detective Donny Moses, a police spokesman, said officers called to the Light Street Pavilion arrived about 10:15 p.m. to find two men with gunshot wounds in front of the Phillips Seafood Express carry-out restaurant.

Officers had been searching for an armed man whom witnesses described as heavyset and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans when shots rang out. Moses said people began running in all directions.

Officers found a 20-year-old male shot in the lower left leg and another man they believe was in his late teens or early 20s who was shot in the right forearm. Both were taken to area hospitals with wounds that were not considered life-threatening, police said.

Moses said police were unable to find the shooter because of the chaos that ensued after the shots were fired. He said officers are investigating the shooting.

The shooting comes on the heels of several recent attacks in and around the popular Baltimore tourist attraction and follows recent police efforts to reassure the public that the Inner Harbor and downtown areas are safe.

In late April, a double stabbing and a fight involving teens in the Inner Harbor caused some businesses to close early. In May, a man walking west of the Inner Harbor was accosted by 10 juveniles walking toward a light rail stop who took his BlackBerry.

In early June, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III sought to reassure city residents that the Inner Harbor and surrounding neighborhoods were safe and that assaults had gone down even amid the heightened attention. Still, he announced an increase of officers in the area on weekends and added a contingent of undercover detectives around the harbor.

The city's crime-fighting efforts got a boost last month when the Police Department was granted $10 million in federal stimulus funds to hire 50 officers over three years.