Baltimore City Mayor Brandon M. Scott has divided social media users after his comments about a child being shot and killed.
Police were called to west Baltimore at around 5pm on Friday 30 December to respond to a shooting, arriving at the scene to find a seven-year-old boy upstairs with a gunshot wound to his head.
The child was transferred to Johns Hopkins Pediatric Hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead.
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Police said an 18-year-old also found at the home was taken into police custody and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
At a press conference, Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Michael Harrison said: "What we have is an unfortunate, very tragic incident with yet another child losing a life in Baltimore City."
Brown also told press that people had to be held 'accountable' for their actions - and did not mince his words.
“We know, in Baltimore and across this country right now, after the pandemic, people are dying over dumb s**t," he said.
“And that’s the reality. We have to understand how we’re gonna hold people accountable – that they’re not consistently arresting the same people over and over again. We see them get released back out.”
At another point, he also added: “There are no words to describe what this family and this community has gone through, a very young child lost a life today.”
His comments have divided opinion online, where a number of people have slammed his approach – and use of expletives - as ‘unprofessional’.
One tweeted: “He's right, and I understand his passion, but you have to show some type of professionalism when you're mayor, and this is unprofessional. Now let's see what's going to be done about it, or is he just going to give passions speeches.”
Another said: “Get that man some media training!”
But many others praised Brown’s approach, with one other writing: “A kid is dead and no one was listening. Screw professionalism.”
Someone else agreed: “I love how folks trying to put this guy on blast. Dude is right.”
A third said: “A kid just died and people are seriously worried about him being professional because he said a cuss word. Really? That’s what upsets you in this whole ordeal that he was unprofessional. Some people need to self evaluate what’s important in life.”
A fourth added: “That's how you get people to listen by not sounding like a robot reading a script.”
Homicide and non-fatal shootings data shared by the Baltimore Police Department on Friday show that there were 332 people killed in the city in 2022, compared to 334 fatal shootings in Baltimore in 2021.
The numbers also showed that non-fatal shootings appeared to have decreased.
Topics: US News
Jess Hardiman