Murders This Week: 1
Murders This Year: 46

Baltimore City’s homicide rate has slowed to a crawl. But even with just three homicides in the last two weeks, as of Monday, Feb. 28, there were still two more homicides this year than there were last year at this time.

Wednesday, Feb. 23

4:58 p.m. Reginald Gray, an 18-year-old African-American man from Northeast Baltimore’s Frankford neighborhood, was found in the driver’s seat of a Crown Victoria in the 2800 block of Saint Lo Drive near Lake Clifton-Eastern High School and Laurence G. Paquin Middle/High School, a public school for teen mothers. Gray had been shot repeatedly. According to police, on Feb. 21 Gray was at Hammerjacks with a friend when he got into a fight. On Feb. 23, Gray crossed paths with the people from that fight while he was driving in the Clifton Park area. They followed Gray until they cornered him on Saint Lo Drive. They got out of their cars, shot him, and drove off. Gray was pronounced dead half an hour later at Johns Hopkins Hospital. James Robinson, an 18-year-old African-American man from Oliver, and Aaron Bell, a 17-year-old African-American man from Middle East, were arrested on Feb. 27 by Baltimore County Police. Each admitted to driving one of the cars, but neither admitted to shooting Gray. Gray is the seventh person under the age of 20 to be murdered this year in Baltimore City.

Email Anna Ditkoff