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By Donica Phifer
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One man was killed and eight others wounded when a man allegedly fired into a crowd of people gathered for two cookouts on opposite sides of a street in Baltimore, Maryland.
Baltimore police are searching for the suspect, who they identified as a black male despite rumors on social media that the shooter was a white male wearing a white t-shirt and jeans.
Police said in a news release that they believe the suspect approached the cookouts on foot and also fled on foot after firing into the crowd.
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"At this time suspect information and motive is unknown to investigators," Baltimore police said in the statement, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The man killed in the shooting ran towards nearby Perkins Square Baptist Church where he was later discovered. Six other victims — a 58-year-old male, a 51-year-old male, a 29-year-old male, a 27-year-old male, a 30-year-old male and a 30-year-old female — were all taken to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
An eighth victim, an adult male, later checked himself into a local hospital with a gunshot to the leg.
Acting Baltimore Mayor Jack Young urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward, saying, "Someone knows something. These things ... they don't happen by happenstance. People know who's doing these shootings."
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison called the shooting "very cowardly" and said the department believes the shooting was carried out with a specific target in mind.
According to the Associated Press, Harrison stated that shell casings were discovered at two different sites at the crime scene, leading authorities to question if there might be two shooters involved in the incident or if someone in the crowd might have returned gunfire at the shooter.
Baltimore has seen a spike in violent crimes since 2015, partially sparked by the death of Freddie Gray that same year. Gray, a black man, died after suffering a spine injury while in custody of the Baltimore Police Department. In response to his death, riots occurred in the city. Six officers were later charged in his death. Three were acquitted and a mistrial was declared against a fourth officer, while charges against the remaining two were dropped in 2016.
In 2017, Baltimore saw 342 homicides, the highest in the city's history and the most of any U.S. city for that year. In 2018, 309 homicides were reported in the city.
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