By Ron Taylor, Special to the AFRO
Governor Wes Moore spent part of his July 4 holiday visiting with victims of the mass shooting that took place in the Brooklyn Homes apartment complex on July 2.
City and state officials are vowing to arrest those responsible for the barrage of gunfire that left two people dead and 28 wounded at a Southeast Baltimore block party early Sunday morning.
“My life is forever changed,” said 17-year-old Joi Shuron, who escaped the chaos that unfolded injured– but alive.
The teen spoke with Moore about the incident before receiving encouragement from the governor and joining him in a word of prayer.
“God has a special purpose for you,” Moore told Shuron, as tears welled in his eyes during the visit. “You are strong!”
Dr. Bert W. O’Malley, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center, told the AFRO that the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland was “doing everything they can to help her (Shuron) during her stay.”
“We want this mass shooting to be treated just as it happened in rural America,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said on July 3. The incident occurred less than two months after Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced the return of curfew enforcement for residents 18-years-old and under. The curfew rollout has come under fire in recent weeks due to a lack of officers and volunteers willing and able to help hold the curfew in place and actually enforce it.
Baltimore acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said police are unclear about what triggered the shooting, and no arrests have been made.
A $28,000 reward is being offered for information about the incident during which witnesses reported hearing more than 50 shots. The 17 female and 11 male victims ranged in age from 17 to 32 years old, first responders said.
Elected officials from the governor’s mansion in Annapolis to the city council in Baltimore railed about the gunfire that erupted shortly after midnight, during what has become known as an annual block party known as Brooklyn Park Day in Southeast Baltimore.
Although no motive has been determined for the shooting, police said witnesses have disclosed that at least two shooters were involved.
Video posted to the Murder_Ink_Bmore page on Instagram (IG) show the panic that ensued after the first shots rang out. The IG page also features a video that clearly shows a young boy pulling an assault weapon out of a bookbag, showing it off prior to the killings.
Pronounced dead at the scene was Aaliyah Gonzalez, who weeks ago received her high school diploma from Glen Burnie High School, according to a letter sent to staff, students and their families by Principal Kevin Carr. She was an honor roll student throughout her senior year, said Carr.
The male victim was identified as Kylis Fagbemi, 20.
Mayor Scott labeled the shooting a “reckless, cowardly” act that altered many lives and “cost two lives.”
Senate President Willliam Ferguson also weighed in on the shooting via a statement sent to press.
“Gun violence like this is so devastating, especially when it involves young people in our city. My heart goes out to the victims, their families and our entire community as we seek to learn more
Special to the AFRO
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