A 12-year-old girl was killed and four adults were wounded Saturday evening when two men argued over a parking space and opened fire on each other at a youth football game in Southwest Baltimore, police said. The shooting happened at Leon Day Park, and investigators are still working to identify the shooters.
What we know:
- Officers were called to Leon Day Park on North Franklintown Road around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Police Commissioner Richard Worley said.
- Responding officers found a woman and the girl with gunshot wounds. Both were taken to hospitals, and the girl died.
- Two men later walked into hospitals for treatment. Worley said all adult victims are believed to have non-life-threatening injuries.
- A fourth adult, a 35-year-old woman, also went to a hospital with a graze wound to her back. Police said she is in stable condition.
- Preliminarily, police believe two men got into a fight over a parking spot, pulled guns, and shot at each other. Worley said one of them fired multiple rounds and the girl was hit.
- Police closed North Franklintown Road at North Ellamont Street during the investigation.
Worley said he believes the girl was near the field watching football when she was hit. He called the dispute one that started over "a stupid parking spot" and described the two shooters as cowards. He said officers are following multiple leads.
Mayor Brandon Scott said the day was homecoming for the youth football league, an organization he described as working daily to keep kids on the right path. He called the shooting among the most disgusting things he has seen, and said two grown men's argument cost a child her future.
A community voice
Erricka Bridgeford, founding director of the Baltimore Peace Movement and executive director of the Baltimore Community Mediation Center, told WBAL-TV 11 News the neighborhood is personal to her. She grew up there, and her brothers played football at the park, where her parents helped train them. She said she got into conflict mediation after a family friend shot one of her brothers during an argument in that neighborhood.
Bridgeford said she plans to work in the community in the aftermath. Her message to anyone caught in a heated moment: walking away doesn't make you weak.
Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore Police at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.
Source: WBAL