Baltimore Mayor: ‘We Will Clean. We Will Rebuild’
BALTIMORE, April 28 (UPI) — As Baltimore residents woke up Tuesday to a city ravaged by a night of rioting, fires and looting, volunteers and workers took to the streets to begin the lengthy clean-up.
There were about 200 arrests and 15 police officers were injured, six seriously, when gangs of mostly young men became violent after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died as a result of a broken spine while in police custody.
Several journalists covering the riots were also injured, including a Baltimore Sun photo editor.
Federal arson investigators have joined local fire marshals to investigate the 144 vehicle fires and 15 structure fires that began as a result of the unrest. Schools remained closed Tuesday, while 500 Maryland National Guard members were stationed throughout the city to keep the peace. More are expected in the coming hours. Police in riot gear also lined the streets.
At the same time, Gov. Larry Hogan and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have been assessing the damage through the city.
“Right now my heart is broken. Yesterday, our home experienced deplorable and cowardly acts of violence. We took immediate steps toward regaining control to now work to ensure that order is maintained,” Rawlings-Blake said on Facebook. “Once the unrest is settled, I will do everything in our power to apprehend the shameful perpetrators of that unrest. We will clean, we will rebuild, and we will heal.”
The city’s Department of Public Works crews hit the streets about 5 a.m. with dump trucks, tow trucks, Bobcats, street sweepers and shovels to clean up damage. Several volunteer groups on Facebook organized to take part in the cleanup.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said the problems Monday evening began after a group of teens confronted police. Police learned on social media that demonstrators were gathering at the Mondawmin Mall, a transportation hub for students from several schools, and planned to move to City Hall.
Officials learned “a large purge of high school students” would be there, referring to the 2013 movie The Purge, which is based on the idea of a temporary suspension of the law. Police said they were outnumbered when they arrived at the mall and were pelted with water bottles and rocks.
Early on, businesses and schools learned about the impending violence and began shutting down. Officials at the University of Maryland in Baltimore abruptly canceled classes “on recommendation of the BPD.” T. Rowe Price and other employers in the area sent workers home early and remain closed.
As the violence grew, calls for calm came from across the city, including from the rival gangs Crips and Bloods. Crips gang member Charles Shelley, standing arm in arm with a Bloods member named Jamal, said, “We’re here to protect our community. We don’t want trouble,”
David Simon, the creator of the HBO series The Wire, called for peace in a blog post, saying the violence in Gray’s name is “an affront to that man’s memory and a diminution of the absolute moral lesson that underlies his unnecessary death.”
On her first day on the job Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that in the coming days, Vanita Gupta, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and Ronald Davis, director of the DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services, will go to Baltimore to meet with faith and community leaders, as well as city officials. A peace walk is planned for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday beginning at the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church through the damaged areas.
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