Ramos Statement on Yesterday’s Shooting on Venable and Greenmount Avenue

Yesterday, four people were shot on the corner of Venable and Greenmount Avenue. They had non-life-threatening injuries and will be okay. Immediate assistance from Ambulance 3 and the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) helped a lot. I was on site for several hours, supporting first responders and talking with impacted residents and passers-by. 

I am thinking about those who were injured and know that we have the best health care in the world here in Baltimore. We will continue to support those who were shot and their families. 

This event is extremely frustrating as we have asked for additional resources to address the activity on that intersection. For more than 10 years, that has been a spot for open-air drug dealing. However, we do not yet know if yesterday’s violence is related to this activity.  I have taken the following actions:

·       Yesterday, I demanded that the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) be implemented in the Northern District immediately. We know this strategy works and has worked across the city. While Northern District is slated to get GVRS sometime this year, we need it immediately given this incident and others in Northern District. 

·       That stretch of Greenmount and Venable has several vacant properties, most owned by one property owner. I have contacted the owner to do something with the properties or leave. I have submitted new 311s for all those vacant buildings and am working on legislation to create a new class of vacant properties so that we can take action on them. Vacant properties send a message that no one cares, and that is absolutely not the case in this area.

Throughout the last four years, my office, the Waverly community, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), and the BPD have worked diligently to remove four open-air drug markets in the area. Together, we have been successful at removing three of them. The Waverly community took charge to eliminate two of these drug markets by advocating for additional changes like addressing vacant properties and removing bushes that were hiding places.

Venable and Greenmount remain a challenge, and the violence has escalated, with two shootings in the last three weeks. GVRS and a coordinated effort of all of the resources we can possibly provide are needed to get this last one. Our goal is to ensure the safety of residents, businesses, and users of this busy corridor and to make sure that young people do not feel they need to go on that corner to succeed.