Baltimore on track to reach highest per-capita murder record as two women are slain

Two women were the latest names added to the list of murder victims in Baltimore, driving up the city’s per capita record to 338 homicides so far this year.

Two women were the latest names added to the list of murder victims in Baltimore, driving up the city’s per capita record to 338 murders so far this year.

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Carmen Rodriguez, 36, worked almost 16 hours every day of the week at the Kim Deli & Grocery near Patterson Park in Baltimore, Md., in an effort to support her children. But her life was cut short Sunday night when a gunman entered the store and opened fire, killing her, The Baltimore Sun reports.

Destiny Harris, 21, owner of Madam D Beauty Bar salon in Southeast Baltimore, was killed Saturday when she was shot multiple times in the head, the report says.

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Two women were the latest names added to the list of murder victims in Baltimore, driving up the city’s per capita record to 338 homicides so far this year. The numbers, amid a widening population decline, has set a record for killings per capita, according to the news outlet.

The homicide numbers prompted the police union leader to call for police Commissioner Michael Harrison to take swift action to reduce crime, while City Council President Brandon Scott called for a complementary plan to help at-risk youth, the report says.

While the city grapples with ways to combat crime, friends and family mourned the loss of their loved ones.

Kim Deli & Grocery owner, Nidal Alshalabi, told The Sun that Rodriguez’s children were inside the deli when the shooting occurred.


Police said on the day Rodriguez lost her life, seven people were shot in Baltimore, including three teenagers outside of a downtown hookah lounge. Two people were shot and killed Saturday in East Baltimore.

Harris filed a police report saying she feared for her safety after her business was broken into twelve days before her death, according to Baltimore’s WMAR-TV. A couple was charged in the theft of $3,000 worth of hair bundles that Harrison sold at her salon, the report says. But there have been no arrests in her murder.

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“She was my heart, loved her greatly… wonderful girl, entrepreneur, a go-getter. She built this [Madam D Beauty Bar] from the ground up,” her uncle Dewine McQueen told the television news outlet.

Harrison said, “Detectives are working tirelessly to identify the people responsible. We will continue through the holiday season with our planned, robust deployment throughout the city,” according to The Sun.

 

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