>Organizers and supporters of a 72-hour Baltimore “ceasefire” initiative marched and prayed Saturday, even as they acknowledged that their fervent pleas for peace could not halt the relentless pace of shootings and killings in Baltimore.
>On the second day of a community initiative aimed at stopping — or at least slowing — gun violence, Baltimoreans held vigils, cookouts and other events. Some stood on corners with signs reading “Baltimore Ceasefire” or “Free Hugs.”
>But even as ceasefire events continued late Saturday afternoon, police reported two shootings, one of them fatal. A 24-year-old man was shot in Pigtown, near Carroll Park, around 5 p.m. Saturday and pronounced dead at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. A second shooting occurred earlier in the afternoon in the 4800 block of Park Heights Ave..
>Earlier, ceasefire participants had said the goal was to help unify the city.
“This is to let the people in the community know that there’s hope,” said Tyrone Boyette, who was part of a somber walk in which participants stopped at each of the sites in a West Baltimore neighborhood where 11 men were killed in recent months.
>“We know it’s not going to stop the murders, but it’s a start,” Boyette said. “If we can get more people involved and we can start having stuff for younger people to do, that’s how we’re going to stop the people from killing each other.”
BLAME WHITEY
>Baltimore Ceasefire Organizer Vows Work Continues After 2 Killings
>A 24-year-old man was shot Saturday at 5 p.m. in a section southwest of downtown Baltimore, police said. The victim, who was not immediately identified, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Roughly five hours later, a 37-year-old unidentified man was shot dead, police said, in an apparently unrelated crime.
>In an interview on MSNBC Sunday, Bridgeford said she believed the ceasefire effort had saved lives.
>“Gang leaders were calling us saying, ‘Well, I don’t know where the shooting may come from this weekend, but where can we buy those T-shirts?” she said. Bridgeford mentioned that T-shirt sales this weekend are offering a "Buy-three-get-one free" special with her Baltimore Ceasefire branding.