The number of homicides in Baltimore this year is soaring – reaching 100 before the end of April for the first time in nearly two decades – and the mayor is asking the FBI for more help.
“Murder is out of control,” said Mayor Catherine Pugh, at her weekly news briefing Wednesday. “There are too many guns on the streets. We’re looking for all the help we can get.”
The mayor met recently with the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore office and asked for additional agents to help local police battle violent crime in the city, according to the mayor’s spokesman, Anthony McCarthy. He said that could either mean bringing in more FBI agents from other field offices across the country or reassigning agents already in Baltimore to work with local police investigating violent crime.
Three people were killed in the city Monday – raising the number of homicides this year to 101, according to police. And with the warmer months approaching, it’s only expected to get worse.
“The summers in Baltimore tend to be very violent,” McCarthy said. “And the mayor wants to get a handle on all the murders, the flood of guns on the streets and the gang activity.”
The mayor is also asking the FBI to share its newest crime-fighting technologies with Baltimore Police, according to McCarthy. He said Mayor Pugh is hoping to make an announcement about additional federal resources sometime next week.