Three weeks ago today, people began gathering for the"Brooklyn Day"celebration, which turned from a little bit of heaven to a hellish scene around 12:30 a.m.
Police never showed up despite 911 calls warning of hundreds of people wielding guns and knives and of gunshots. This reporter cried. This tragedy kept me up nights. How about you, Commissioner?
By Gary Gately
Three weeks after Brooklyn Day began, Baltimore Police have exactly one suspect in the mass shooting — a 17-year-old held without bond on misdemeanor weapons charges and two counts of incting a riot.
The BPD never claimed the youth fired a weapon, and neither police nor prosectuors have produced a weapon as evidence to justify holding the him without bond in a city where murder suspects are routinely released on bond while awaiting trial. The evidence against the youth: Video showing him with what his attorney calls a toy gun that shoots water pellets.
It perhaps should come as no suprise that police have no other suspects and no solid leads because they simply ignored hours of ominous warnings of serious violence erupting.
What went wrong?
Everthing that could possibly go wrong, if measured by standards of policing drilled into every beat cop’s head.
I have covered four mass shootings, including reporting on two for The New York Times (at a one-room schoolhouse in Amish Country and the other at The Annapolis Capital) ANnapoliand one for The Washinton Post on an Aberdeen Rite Aid warehouse rampage.
Other than losing in the Capital massacre my long-ago friend and mentor who taught me to write a news lead in college, no mass shooting I’ve covered has ever hit me as hard or hurt me as much as the one at Brooklyn Homes.
Indeed, in maybe 10 hours of reporting there, I sobbed more than a few times, but then got right back to work because you can’t give in to emotions on deadline.
Real reporters do cry, after all, and tragic blunders like that leave 800 people without a cop in sight when bullets find 30 of them, killing two.
How about you, Acting Commisioner Richard W. Worley Jr.
Did the Brooklyn Homes tragedy make you cry too?
Keep you up nights?
How about you, Mayor Brandon Scott?
Did the Brooklyn Homes tragedy make you cry?
Keep you up nights?
Make you gush about your friend the commissioner, “Hometown Boy,” your choice to lead the BPD?
That would be Richard Worley of Pasadena.
Was there some kind of celebration that weekend in Pasadena that perhaps distracted your attention for 12 hours when BPD should have been at the annual celebration in full force when it started?
And how about all those ominous warnings for hours: repeated 911 calls reporting gunshots and hundreds of mostly young people wielding guns and knives?
Worley finally delivered a mea culpa on behalf of himself and the police department he leads on July 13, blaming the absentee police force for an “absolutely unacceptable breakdown in communication and judgment.”
"We had multiple opportunities to intervene, and we did not take them,” Worley said at the Council’s Public Safety Committee hearing. “More importantly, we saw that the event was happening. When we saw the crowd gathering, when we got reports there were people with weapons, we could have and should have done more.”
Yeah, you sure as hell should have, Chief
Stating with doing your most basic duty to the citizens you’re charged with protecting.
You and your department failed utterly to do so, by any and every measure. You and your department failed the people of Brooklyn Homes, failed Baltimore, my hometown.
I’m thinking The Baltimore Sun I delivered as a kid and which employed me in reporting and editing jobs would have called for Worley’s resignation within days of the mass shooting.
But the eviscerated newspaper, now run by a former business editor (who serves as editor AND publisher) and a former sports writer and editor gave the commissioner a pass, just as the City Council has, as usual, the rubber-stamp Baltimore City Council, even more impotent than most in strong-mayor forms of government.
Worley, who had lived in Brooklyn for 12 years, said in the jammed City Council chambers: "I am saddened we weren't able to protect and serve. I didn't want to be on world news for something negative. I’m angry, sad and very disappointed.”
Sorry you’re sad, Chief, and if I were you, I don’t think I could sleep at night.
We’re sad too, and you want really sad, think of this teen’s mother, then take a look at the photo and Facebook post her mother shared about her “Angel,” aa gifted, 18-year-old storyteller with a college scholarship, lay dead on the ground on Gretna Court in Brooklyn Homes.
Without a cop in sight, Commissioner.
Her fellow resident of the community, a 20-year-old man, died of gunshot wounds in the hospital shortly after.
“Two children are dead!” someone shouted from the balcony of the City Council chambers during the hearing.
The 28 wounded included 23 teens, two of them 13-year-olds (though most victims have been released from hospitals).
Of course, the number of wounded alone, the ones whose bodies the bullets found, cannot begin to capture the depths of grief among so many of those who carry on, leaving holes in their lives, in their hearts and souls, that time will never fully heal.
I have to wonder: Was there another celebration happening that weekend in Pasadena that preoccupied you, Commissioner Worley?
Shame on you, Commissioner Worley.
Shame on you, BPD.
Shame on your, Mayor Scott.
Shame on you, rubber-stamp City Council.
This is my hometown, and your failings — and the 30 people shot with nary a cop in sight at Brooklyn Homes — make this reporter cry.
Enough.
Richard Worley has no right to be police comissioner.
He and his department betrayed the public trust, and he’s right: We can never let this happen again, and we can start on a path to redemption, recovery and getting it right next time by ridding the department of Richard W. Worley Jr.
Now.
The Brooklyn Homes Tragedy, In Quotes and Photos Appearing In Stories and Columns In The Baltimore Observer
BPD'S Worley: "I am saddened we weren't able to protect and serve." Baltimore Chief Administrator Faith Leach: “We absolutely all grieved. What happened was awful. We are all grieving as a city.”
JUL 16, 2023
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"We had multiple opportunities to intervene, and we did not take them. More importantly, we saw that the event was happening. When we saw the crowd gathering, when we got reports there were people with weapons, we could have and should have done more.”
“We are going to find out what happened and fix it. We have to see what happened here and make corrections so this never happens again.”
"I am saddened we weren't able to protect and serve. I didn't want to be on world news for something negative. I’m angry, sad and very disappointed.” — Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr., Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
"No Officer Needed." — Baltimore City Police Classification of 10:45 p.m. 911 Call On July 1 from Brooklyn Homes Reporting Hundreds of People with Guns and Knives at the Community’s Annual “Brooklyn Day” Celebration, According to Acting Police Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr’s Presentation at Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
“I know that you all took time to develop your presentations for this hearing tonight, but it is not up to the level where we need to be. No new information was provided to me, and I’m deeply disappointed.” — Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
“The fact that there were no police officers here is an immense systemic failure. Brooklyn has always and forever been a neglected community. This is not the time for us to forget them now. This is the time for us to come together and stand in solidarity with them.” — Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, Brooklyn Homes, July 3
“We absolutely all grieved. What happened was awful. We are all grieving as a city.” — Faith P. Leach, Chief Administrative Officer, Baltimore City, Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
“A tragic, horrendous event that shook the city to the core." — Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Mark Conway, Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
“It’s hard for me to grapple with that if this was in Fells Point, it would happen the same exact way. It gets to the culture. I just don’t understand how we get past that. That’s the crux of this matter. All citizens deserve the same level of service.” — Nick Mosby, Baltimore City Council President, Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Hearing, Baltimore City Hall, July 13
“[Charging documents show ] clear and convincing evidence the defendant would pose a risk to public safety.” — Baltimore District Court Judge Kent J. Boles Jr., Explaining His Decision to Deny Bond to a 17-Year-Old Facing Misdemeanor Charges As the Only Suspect In the Brooklyn Homes Mass Shooting, Baltimore City District Court Hearing, July 10
“Baltimore City Police were derelict in their duty to protect the public. They were not at Brooklyn Homes prior to nor at the time of this horrific incident, and they are attempting to pin this tragedy on this young man without any evidence to support the charges against him.” — Michael S. Clinkscale, Attorney Representing 17-Year-Old Held Without Bond On Misdemeanor Charges In Connection with the July 2 Brooklyn Homes Mass Shooting
“MY BABY!!! Worst day of my life! I cannot do life without her. I NEED HER!! Why would they do this to a perfect angel? I love you so much, baby. I didn’t get there fast enough. God this is a mistake!!! Please!!” — Faceook Post, Krystal Gonzalez, Mother of 18-Year-Old Aaliyah Gonzalez, Fatally Shot At Brooklyn Homes, July 2
“You know, I was born here and I grew up here, and it was a fine place to grow up then, and I was a good kid really. But there’s always temptations, and I started cutting school and smoking some weed and then by high school, doing heroin, and before I know it, I’m an addict. I’m hurting, and I’m hurting everybody in my life.But I got in a program, NA, and I did the steps and then got honest work, fell in love, married, had a little boy, and then me and some some others, young and old, we started this festival here, and we called it Brooklyn Day. And I gotta tell you, even as the neighborhood started going the way of so many others, it seems now almost like a miracle or something that beyond a scuffle here and there, nothing bad ever happened on Brooklyn Day or when, as it often did, it went past midnight, and that made me mighty proud, you know? I don’t even know what to say right now. But this ain’t what we hoped for and this ain’t what we got for 26 years, so it’s like everything we built, it just vanished when those shots rang out. Thanks for coming by and keeping me company. Goodnight, or should I say, good morning? And good luck. We all need faith, son, and we all need luck too.” — Brooklyn Homes Resident, NA Member Who Requested Anonymity, Interview with The Baltimore Observer, 3:15 a.m. July 3
“Why? Why? Why? Somebody gotta tell me why no police was around when the bullets started flying, None of these 30 people who was shot ever shoulda been. The police know all about this community. This ain’t no Inner Harbor or North Baltimore or some shit. These cops ain’t dumb. Where the hell were they? One of those shot was my friend, but just a minor leg wound, thank God. But what about the others? A lot of us know others, and I knew that girl who got killed and the young man. Why? Why were no police here?” — 22-Year-Old Brooklyn Homes Resident Dawn Lefferson, Interview with The Baltimore Observer, 1 a.m., July 12