Police: Gunmen from 2 vans fatally shoot 3 in Baltimore

BALTIMORE – Gunmen killed three people gathered on a corner near a university Tuesday night, police said.

Two gunmen shot a total of four people – one who was in stable condition – a few blocks from the urban campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, according to police.

Baltimore has seen a spike in violence since the April death of Freddie Gray, a young African-American who died while in police custody after being arrested. The incident sparked unrest across Baltimore and intensified a debate over how police treat minorities.

The three deaths bring the homicide total for Baltimore for the year to at least 154, according to police news releases. That’s an increase of more than 40 per cent compared with the same time last year. Shootings have increased more than 80 per cent.

On Tuesday night, the two light-colored vans pulled to the side of the road and one person got out of each van and began firing, campus police said in a statement on the school’s website.

Officers responded about 10:30 p.m. to the shooting, in a residential neighbourhood in West Baltimore a few blocks from the campus, Detective Rashawn Strong said in a statement early Wednesday. They found three people with gunshot wounds. One male was pronounced dead at the scene, and another male and a female were taken to a hospital, where they died. The fourth victim sought treatment at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the buttocks.

It was the second shooting in the block in a week, according to campus police.