Baltimore Witness data shows that the average age of homicide and non-fatal shooting perpetrators across Baltimore City rose from approximately 30 years old in 2023 to approximately 32.1 in 2025.
The average non-fatal shooter grew approximately one year older, going from 29.4 years old to 30.3, while the average murderer aged roughly three years, going from 30.6 to 33.9 years old.
While Baltimore’s average violent criminal has grown older overall, 2025 saw the city record its highest and lowest average ages since 2023. This year, the city saw its oldest murderers in February and March, with homicide perpetrators averaging 42 years of age. As schools broke for vacation, summer saw the average age of homicide perpetrators dip into the 20s between May and July.
In contrast, the start of summer saw the average non-fatal shooting perpetrator grow in age and enter their thirties. August saw the year’s oldest cohort of shooting perpetrators so far, averaging 38 years old.
In 2023, violent crime perpetrators ranged in age from 24 to 36, an eight-year difference. The following year, that gap grew nearly double, from eight to 15. 2024’s youngest criminals averaged 26 years old, while the oldest averaged 41.
Data shows that Baltimore’s criminals are getting older – but it shows they’re starting younger, too.
The gap continues to widen in 2025. A 20-year difference separates the city’s oldest perpetrators of 42 years from its youngest of 22 years, and constitutes a 250 percent increase from the eight-year gap recorded in 2023.
Murder and non-fatal shooting perpetrators across Baltimore City decreased in overall age from the beginning of the year, with both rates dropping from approximately 30 years on average in January to 25 in September — a rough 17 percent decrease across nine months.
Among February’s oldest homicide arrests was 65-year-old Norman Waker, a male resident of the Pleasant View Gardens senior apartments. Waker was arrested at the scene for allegedly shooting and killing fellow resident Clyde Barnes, 79, and injuring another unnamed male resident who was 72 at the time.
Among the city’s youngest arrests was a male juvenile suspect who was booked on Sept. 7 for the Aug. 22 murder of 26-year-old Davonne Hare in Druid Hill Park. The unnamed suspect, who was 16 years old at the time of his arrest, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the crime.
Non-fatal shooters sharply declined in overall age from January to March, hitting a low of approximately 22 years of age for the average perpetrator before rocketing back up in April to hit roughly 33 years.
Baltimore man Broderick Young, 21, was arrested in April for his involvement in a March 29 mass shooting that occurred on the 400 block of Venable Avenue. No fatalities were reported but the incident left four victims injured, including an 18-year-old male, a 25-year-old male, a 60-year-old male and a 57-year-old female. Young was one year younger than March’s average non-fatal shooting perpetrator at the time of his arrest.
From April through September, the trendline for average age of non-fatal shooting perpetrators zig-zagged upward to a peak of approximately 38 in August before resting at 25.
August saw the arrest of James Barrett, who was charged with attempted first-degree murder after wounding a 26-year-old male victim during an Aug. 8 shooting incident that occurred on the 1800 block of Edmondson Avenue. Barrett was 38 years old at the time of the crime, the same age as August’s average non-fatal shooting perpetrator.
Overall, data reveals a greater variance in the average age of perpetrators across Baltimore City, with some Baltimore residents turning to crime at increasingly younger ages. The coincidence of this year’s summer vacation with a noticeable increase in homicides and non-fatal shooting incidents suggests deepening ties between Baltimore’s young adults and violent crime.
