BALTIMORE (AP) — Authorities have arrested and charged a teenager who investigators believe was involved in a mass shooting at a Baltimore block party over the holiday weekend that left two people dead and 28 others injured, officials announced on Friday.
Homicide and SWAT team members arrested the 17-year-old around 7 a.m. Friday after a search warrant was issued at a home, police said in a statement press release. He was taken to the Central Booking Intake Facility where he was charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of an assault weapon, reckless endangerment and having a pistol in a vehicle, police said.
Police referred to the teenager in the release as a person of interest. He is charged as an adult, but police are not identifying him because he is a minor, according to department spokesman Detective Freddie Talbert.
Investigators are still actively investigating the shooting in the Brooklyn Homes neighborhood in the southern part of the city, Talbert said. A reward of up to $28,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and charges in the case.
There was one Wave of shootings this week when the US celebrated the 4th of July. The gun violence that erupted in Washington, DC this week; Louisiana; Florida; Pennsylvania; Texas; Maryland and Massachusetts left more than a dozen dead and more than 60 wounded, including children as young as two years old.
Earlier this week, Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said investigators believed there were multiple shooters in the block party shooting and that it was not clear whether the shooting was targeted or accidental.
“We don’t know exactly how many, but we do know that more than one person fired,” Worley said. The event has been held for decades, but this year no permit was granted and police didn’t know in advance like they had in previous years, Worley said.
Police identified the two people killed as 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi. The 28 injured victims were between the ages of 13 and 32, with more than half under the age of 18, officials said. According to the police, three of the injured were still in good condition in hospitals on Friday.
