Baltimore Witness data shows that overall violent crime rates dropped by 28 percent from January to February, with homicide rates falling eight percent and non-fatal shooting rates seeing a decrease of 40 percent.
Compared to January’s 12 homicides, the city saw 11 occur in February, including one fatal stabbing and one mass shooting incident that left three injured and one dead.
Police documents state that the stabbing, which occurred at a home next to West Baltimore’s Apostolic Community Fellowship Church on Feb. 19, stemmed from a dispute between suspect Anthony Wilson, 53, and victim Andrew Seeley, 36. Officers received notice of the attack just before 11 p.m. and responded to find Seeley suffering from a critical wound to his body.
Seeley was pronounced dead at an area hospital. Four days later, on Feb. 23, officers arrested Wilson at a home on the 1600 block of McCulloh Street, just one block away from the scene of Seeley’s murder. Wilson, who remains held without bail, has been charged with murder and assault.
Three days prior to Seeley’s death, officers were called to West Baltimore after a shootout resulted in multiple victims and a fatal car crash in the parking lot of Mondawmin Mall. Two surviving victims, ages 23 and 25, were found inside a pair of cars that had collided in the parking lot, while a third 27-year-old victim was found on the mall’s outskirts, with non-critical gunshot wounds. The fourth victim, 24-year-old Keshown Lake, was found deceased behind the mall.
Police have yet to announce an arrest in connection to the mass shooting, marking Wilson as the only homicide arrest announced last month.
In terms of non-fatal shootings, Baltimore police announced arrests in three of the 12 incidents that occurred across the city in February. The previous month had seen only one arrest announced across a total of 20 incidents.
On Feb. 11, officers arrested 31-year-old Preston Freeman and charged him with attempted murder for his suspected role in an armed robbery that occurred the day prior on the 4000 block of 5th Street.
Six days later, shortly after 1 a.m. on Feb. 17, Baltimore police responded to a report of a shooting at Melba’s Place, a nightclub located on Greenmount Avenue in North Baltimore. Later that week, investigators arrested 42-year-old Darryl Spence and charged him with attempted murder for his role in the shooting, which left a 36-year-old man hospitalized with injuries.
The same day, officers also announced the arrest of 41-year-old Samuel Partlow and charged him in a Washington Village shooting.
Police have yet to announce arrests in the remaining nine non-fatal shooting incidents recorded last month.
