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Baltimore police say 5 people injured in shooting, suspect still at-large

Police in Baltimore, Maryland. say that five men were injured Friday after being shot.

Officials say that the shooting happened near Lexington Market around 3:30 p.m., according to FOX 45.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during a press conference that multiple rounds of bullets were fired in the shooting.

Police said that there was one intended target in the shooting.

FLORIDA TEENAGER ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SHOOTING INTO CROWD OUTSIDE INDOOR AMUSEMENT PARK

Police in Baltimore, Maryland say that five men were injured on Friday after being shot. (Baltimore Police Department)

According to WBAL, the suspect hasn’t yet been arrested.

MACHETE-WIELDING NYC PROFESSOR CHASES DOWN FAST FOOD AFTER ARRAIGNMENT FOR MENACING REPORTER

Harrison said that the victims range in age from 38 to mid-60s, stating that all of their injuries are non-life threatening.

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Police are investigating the incident.

Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.

‘This system is failing’: Why this Baltimore teacher left her job to home-school her youngest son

BALTIMORE – Blanca Tapahuasco was afraid her first-grade son was being exposed to adult topics like gender identity and sexual orientation, and simultaneously worried that Charm City’s education system would fail him. So the mother of three quit her teaching job to home-school her youngest.

“Politics doesn’t belong in the classroom,” Tapahuasco told Fox News. “This system is failing because the children are not being prioritized.”

WHY THIS FORMER BALTIMORE EDUCATOR CHOSE TO HOMESCHOOL HER YOUNGEST CHILD:

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Tapahuasco, who taught Spanish to elementary schoolers at a Christian school, said she saw teachers sneaking their political bias into their classrooms. She also heard stories from private and public school students she tutored, that lessons on sexual orientation in families were confusing them. She worried that no school in Baltimore could effectively teach core academics without inserting bias or adult topics.

“Whatever lifestyle you want to live, that’s your choice,” Tapahuasco said. “But don’t introduce it to a four-year-old.” 

So she pulled her youngest son out of a public charter school in February 2020, leaving her oldest sons — now in 9th and 11th grade — in their vocational schools for the social aspect and for access to specialized lesson plans. But when schools had to shutter because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tapahuasco said her fears were confirmed.

‘CLEARLY A COVER-UP’: BALTIMORE PARENTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST CITY SCHOOLS AFTER RAPID ACADEMIC DECLINE

Baltimore public schools face steep academic decline with zero students in 23 schools scoring proficient on the state math exam.  (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

“I saw in virtual learning where the indoctrination was starting to creep in,” Tapahuasco told Fox News. She said one teacher showed a photo of President Andrew Jackson and called him “another white guy that you don’t need to learn about.”

The number of Maryland families that home-schooled their kids more than doubled from 2019 to the end of the 2021 school year, according to the Maryland State Board of Education. Tapahuasco told Fox News that parents stuck with home-schooling for more say in their kids’ education in the wake of escalating curriculum battles and nationwide learning loss.

HOME-SCHOOL FOREST GROUP ENROLLMENT SOARS AS PARENTS ESCAPE ‘ONE SIZE FITS ALL’ PUBLIC SCHOOLS, FOUNDERS SAY

“Let [kids] enjoy the process of learning rather than injecting your own personal views,” Tapahuasco said. The former educator said Baltimore’s schools have been robbing kids of their future livelihoods by passing and promoting students before they are ready.

In recent years, Baltimore City Public Schools have posted dismal academic results. Last year, they sported the lowest graduation rate in Maryland, while 77% of students at one high school could read at only an elementary or kindergarten level. 

Tapahuasco pulls her son out of public school to give him the academic rigor he requires at home while avoiding classroom politicization.  (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSIDERS CLOSURES AS STUDENT ENROLLMENT PLUMMETS

And In February, FOX45’s Project Baltimore reported that 23 schools had zero students score proficient on a state math exam. 

“It’s taxpayers’ funds that are going to these programs,” Tapahuasco said. “If the program doesn’t work, then change the leader.” 

At Maryland’s charter schools, meanwhile, about half of all fourth graders had below basic skills in math and reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2022 report card.

Tapahuasco says teachers should keep their personal views out of the classroom and focus on meeting basic education requirements first.  (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

Baltimore City’s public schools need to meet the “basic needs of educating,” again, Tapahuasco said. “Are we passing kids by the skin of our teeth or are we passing them because they’re ready?”

BCPS did not return a request for comment.

Tapahuasco partly withdrew her youngest son from public charter school because it couldn’t offer rigorous enough lessons for his ability. His teacher suggested several private schools, but they were too expensive.

“About midway of first grade, that October, November, he started to let me know that he was bored,” she told Fox News. The teacher, Tapahuasco, was busy trying to manage “the low literacy level in her classroom.”

Public schools saw the largest drop in student enrollment since 1943 — 1.4 million — between 2019 and 2020 and remained about even the next year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At the same time, home-schooling across the country spiked.

In Maryland, homeschooling students rose by nearly 54% from 2020 to 2021, according to a January Maryland State Board of Education report. The next year, more than 2,000 additional students joined the home school ranks, brining total enrollment to nearly 45,000.

COVID-19 DROVE PARENTS TO HOME-SCHOOL THEIR KIDS, BUT CLASSROOM POLITICIZATION KEPT THEM THERE, TEXAS MOM SAYS

WATCH A TEXAS MOM TOUT ADVANTAGES OF HOME-SCHOOLING:

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Tapahuasco told Fox News parents should stop putting up with public education’s failures and “teach their own children.” This fall, she plans to open a bilingual education and childcare center where home school students can be tutored. 

“We need to inform parents that there is an option for home-schooling,” Tapahuasco said. “There is an option for boost.”

To watch Tapahuasco’s full interview, click here. 

Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.

DeSantis pledges to fire Chris Wray, says FBI, DOJ have ‘lost their way’

Newly-declared Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis vowed Wednesday to dismiss FBI Director Christopher Wray, saying the bureau and the Justice Department have “lost their way” and allowed themselves to be “weaponized” against Americans.

In his first interview since formally jumping into the 2024 race, DeSantis, the second-term governor of Florida and former U.S. House member, said that he would shake up the leadership at the DOJ in the wake of continuing bombshell reports of politicization brought to the fore by Congress and select media outlets.

“No, I would not keep Chris Wray as director of the FBI. There’ll be a new one on day one,” DeSantis told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy on “Fox News Tonight.”

Wray, a Trump appointee who previously served as then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s attorney during his George Washington BridgeGate scandal, has been widely criticized as the bureau continues being accused of politicking.

DESANTIS RECOUNTS ‘REBELLING THE OTHER WAY’ AGAINST IVY LEAGUE DOCTRINE

DeSantis (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Most recently, three FBI employees testified before Congress they were retaliated against for questioning the January 6 narrative, while the bureau has also taken criticism over its purported threat-tagging of school board meeting attendees, and raids on individuals like pro-life activists and longtime Republican consultant Roger Stone.

DeSantis said he would nominate an attorney general with a “strong backbone” who must be able to do his job in the face of attacks by left-wing media like the Washington Post and New York Times.

“You’re going to get attacked by CNN. And you’ve got to wear that as a badge of honor. You can’t try to please polite society because otherwise you’ll just get captured by the institution itself,” he added.

“And I think the DOJ and FBI have lost their way. I think that they’ve been weaponized against Americans who think like me and you. And I think that they become very partisan.”

NIKKI HALEY’S DISNEY INVITATION LAMBASTED BY CONSERVATIVES AS VEILED SHOT AT DESANTIS

Wray (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

DeSantis suggested the FBI and other agencies have been able to become partisan is because Republican presidents still subscribe to the idea they are “independent” when in fact they are executive branch agencies.

“They answer to the elected president of the United States. So as president, you have a responsibility to be involved in holding those agencies accountable, clearing out people who are not doing the job, and making sure that they’re doing the people’s business, and they’re not abusing their authority,” he said

Appearing to reference the Twitter Files scandal, DeSantis pledged that any Justice Department employees found to be “collud[ing]” with a tech official to censor information would be immediately fired.

Pivoting to Florida’s battle against woke agendas in education and commerce, DeSantis said the proverbial “woke mind virus is a form of cultural Marxism.”

Wokeism, he added, is “an attack on the truth.” 

“And because it’s a war on truth, I think we have no choice but to wage a war on ‘woke’.”

MEXICAN PRESIDENT SLAMS DESANTIS-BACKED BILL MEANT TO DETER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Inner Harbor and downtown Baltimore (Atlantide Phototravel via Getty Images)

A president should therefore be unafraid to speak truth to power, even if it is socially uncomfortable in some precincts, as presenting empirical facts against woke attestations can be, DeSantis argued.

The battle against wokeism also extends broader into commerce, where mutual funds and other large financial firms are prioritizing ESG (Environmental, Social Governance) over fiduciary priorities. The governor said a president should push back against that as well.

In terms of education, DeSantis noted the federal government is involved in the accreditation of postsecondary institutions, so it may be up to the accreditors to take a stand against wokeism and DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) curricula.

“We’re going to accredit you if you are a colorblind university – if you’re not trying to divide people on the basis of race. So there are different tools at your disposal. It’s not the same as a governor. But I think you can have an impact across a wide variety of different areas,” he said.

In response to NAACP President Derrick Johnson announcing a “travel warning” for Black people intending to visit Florida, DeSantis questioned why the group isn’t focused on real threats to minority communities, like schools where zero or single-digit percentages of students are classified within grade-level aptitude or neighborhoods wracked by violent crime.

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He specifically pointed to Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city, where the schools are infamously underperforming and the city continues to suffer under high crime rates.

A recent FOX-45 report from the Charm City found 23 Baltimore schools had zero students proficient in math, while the Old Line State itself was ranked the second-most educated state in the country.

“Florida’s crime rates are at a 50-year low,” he said. “Compare that to places like Chicago or Baltimore – I don’t hear the NAACP talking about that.”

Florida encourages school choice, he added, alleging Baltimore’s education system is largely determined by the will of teachers unions.

“We’re second in 3rd and 4th grade math and reading, respectively, because parents have options. You go to Baltimore or Chicago, some of these kids are more likely to get shot than to actually have a high quality education,” he said.

“And I can tell you, since I’ve been governor, some of the people who’ve contributed to our record tourism have been board members of the NAACP. How do I know? Because they put pictures of their Florida vacation on their social media accounts. So this is an attempt to create a phony narrative.”

“But I think people are on to this stuff. They know what it is, and they take it with a grain of salt, and they dismiss it.”

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

Charles covers media, politics and breaking news, and has covered the annual CPAC conference for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

‘Clearly a cover-up’: Baltimore parents fight back against city schools after rapid academic decline

BALTIMORE – A father of two young children hopes a lawsuit will lead to more transparency and improve student outcomes in Baltimore’s embattled public school system.

“I’m all for funding schools,” Jovani Patterson, told Fox News. “However, you don’t just keep giving money without investigation on where the money has gone, especially with the amount of corruption and misuse of funds that have taken place for years in Baltimore City.”

‘CLEARLY A COVER-UP’: BALTIMORE PARENTS PUSH FOR INVESTIGATION OF CITY SCHOOLS

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Patterson and his wife allege the school system misused taxpayer funds, reported ghost students — children not actually enrolled — in order to gain more funding, falsified pupils’ records to push failing students through to graduation and more. Their suit names Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners, city council and Mayor Brandon Scott as defendants. 

“It’s all about power and control,” Patterson said of the school system. “There’s a lot of money in education.”

That’s $1.62 billion a year in Baltimore City Public Schools, to be exact. Baltimore has the fourth-highest funded large school system in the nation, behind only New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. Charm City’s school budget increased 16% this school year, according to the city.

All that money — approximately $21,600 per student — isn’t adding up to better outcomes. Baltimore had the lowest graduation rate across Maryland during the last school year. At one high school, 77% of students read at an elementary or kindergarten level.

And in February, FOX45’s Project Baltimore broke the news that 23 schools had zero students score proficient on a state math exam. The state then removed the data and re-uploaded a heavily-redacted version.

“I think that they’re trying to hide that the public school system is in worse shape than we thought,” a whistleblower who previously worked in the Maryland State Department of Education told Project Baltimore.

Patterson agreed, telling Fox News “there’s clearly a cover-up going on here.”

Jovani Patterson is suing the Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners, city council and Mayor Brandon Scott, alleging the schools have misused taxpayer funds. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

WHY BALTIMORE’S THOUSANDS OF VACANT BUILDINGS ARE A ‘CRISIS OF EPIC PROPORTIONS’

“There’s clearly things that we see that they don’t want the people of the public to know when it comes to educating our kids,” he said.

The question is simple for Patterson: Should Baltimore City students receive a good education?

“If you believe the answer to that is yes, then you should be joined in with this lawsuit as well,” he said.

Baltimore’s education woes are uniting people across the political spectrum. Patterson made an unsuccessful bid for city council president as a Republican in 2020. But prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump has joined his lawsuit.

“If you don’t get a quality education, often times you find yourself a victim of the school-to-prison pipeline,” Crump told FOX45. “Hopefully, with this lawsuit, we can get it right and that way it can help make – not just Baltimore better – but it can help make cities across America better.”

A spokesperson for Baltimore City Public Schools called the Pattersons’ lawsuit “meritless because it fails to identify a current controversy justifying judicial intervention” in an email to Fox News.

“Even if the plaintiffs’ lawsuit identified current concerns with City School policies or procedures, there is a robust local, state, and federal infrastructure to handle these types of issues,” the spokesperson continued, adding that “City Schools stands ready to demonstrate our steadfast commitment to providing a quality education to all students.”

The legal process could drag on for years, according to Patterson’s attorney. A judge allowed the case to move into the discovery and deposition phase late last year after denying the city and school system’s request to dismiss the suit.

Baltimore has the fourth-highest funded large school system in the United States, but students have low proficiency rates in core subjects like math and English. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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But Patterson said he’s in it for the long haul.

“Someone has to stay and fight,” he said. “I met my wife here, [had] both of my kids here, I was born here, bought my first house here. I planted my flag. So I’m going to fight as long and as hard as I can.”

To see the full interview with Patterson, click here.

Jon Michael Raasch contributed to this report.

Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.

Baltimore cops indicted for selling weed on job, vehicular manslaughter

Two Baltimore police officers were indicted this week in separate cases, including an 11-year department veteran accused of selling drugs on the clock — allegations that come as the agency seeks to rebuild its reputation after the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal ruptured public trust.

Officer Cejus Watson was supposed to be working at police headquarters in downtown Baltimore on Sept. 29, but he left during his shift and drove to a Baltimore County tattoo parlor where he sold marijuana, according to a grand jury indictment.

Watson had been previously charged with marijuana distribution in Baltimore County, a separate legal jurisdiction, and was suspended without pay as a result; that case, which pertains to the same alleged drug deal, is ongoing with trial scheduled for June.

BALTIMORE POLICE STAFFING CRISIS HITS DIRE LEVELS, FOP BOSS AND JUDGE WARN: ‘UNDERCOVER’ DEFUNDING

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, who took office as the city’s top prosecutor in January, announced the indictments at a news conference Thursday morning, saying they demonstrate his commitment to holding law enforcement officers accountable for misconduct.

The second officer, Alexis Acosta, faces manslaughter and other charges after he struck and killed a scooter rider while responding to a June 911 call.

Bates said the indictments call into question the officers’ “integrity and ability to protect the citizens of Baltimore City.” He called Watson’s alleged actions “absolutely mind-boggling.”

“When I hear there’s evidence that an officer was allegedly selling drugs on the job, I can’t help but think of the notorious Gun Trace Task Force — the shame that was brought on our police department and our city as a whole,” he said.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates on Thursday announced criminal charges against two police officers. (Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

That corruption scandal resulted in more than a dozen officers being convicted of criminal charges. It stemmed from the discovery that members of an elite plainclothes squad, created to get illegal guns off the streets, had robbed drug dealers, planted narcotics and firearms on innocent people, and assaulted random civilians.

The department also remains under a federal consent decree that mandates a series of court-ordered reforms to root out unconstitutional policing practices.

While troubling, Bates said, the charges against Watson likely aren’t representative of more widespread corruption inside the department.

“The consent decree, I do believe is working,” he said.

Watson made $86,000 in 2021, according to public salary records. An attorney representing him didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

WHY BALTIMORE’S THOUSANDS OF VACANT BUILDINGS ARE A ‘CRISIS OF EPIC PROPORTIONS’

Acosta was responding to a 911 call about a reported stabbing when he struck Terry Harrell, 58, who was riding an electric scooter. Video footage of the crash showed Acosta driving through a red light with his lights and sirens on. In addition to manslaughter, he’s accused of reckless and negligent driving.

Online court records didn’t indicate Thursday whether Acosta has an attorney representing him.

A spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department said Acosta remains on administrative duty.

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Bates has made other announcements of indictments of Baltimore police officers. However, he also declined to prosecute an officer who fatally shot a fleeing teenage driver last year. That decision, which has drawn criticism from activists, was at odds with an investigative report from state prosecutors who also reviewed the case.

Why Baltimore’s thousands of vacant buildings are a ‘crisis of epic proportions’

BALTIMORE – Red reflective diamonds dot the exteriors of crumbling, burned and boarded up row homes in Charm City, marking them unsafe. The thousands of abandoned properties cost the city more than $100 million a year and endanger lives.

“This is a crisis of really epic proportions that we have to address in our city,” Councilwoman Odette Ramos told Fox News.

More than 14,000 buildings are vacant in Baltimore, costing the city upwards of $100 million each year for emergency services and maintenance. (Megan Myers, Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

BALTIMORE MAN HAD FORGIVEN AN ANONYMOUS SHOOTER WHO NEARLY KILLED HIM. THEN FATE STEPPED IN AGAIN

Ramos is at the forefront of efforts to clean up the city by turning lots over to developers and homeowners. It’s been a yearslong focus for her, but scrutiny on the issue intensified last year when three firefighters died in a vacant building fire.

Ramos said that event highlighted for “the entire city how important it is to address” vacant buildings.

More than 14,000 vacant buildings are scattered across Baltimore, costing the city around $100 million per year in maintenance, fire department and police resources, according to a recent report from Johns Hopkins University initiative. Baltimore had one of the highest vacancy rates in the country in 2019 at 8.1%.

“The research shows that our violent crime is happening in areas where there’s the most vacant properties,” Ramos said standing in front of a house sandwiched between two abandoned homes.

WHY BALTIMORE’S THOUSANDS OF VACANT BUILDINGS ARE A ‘CRISIS OF EPIC PROPORTIONS’:

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“We have residents right here who’s living in between two different vacant and abandoned properties,” she said. “That’s affecting their property value as well as getting mold and other things in their property. But they don’t want to leave because this is their home. So it’s unfair to them to have to live in that situation.”

Ramos said numerous factors contribute to the blight, dating as far back as 1911, when Baltimore adopted the nation’s first racially segregated housing ordinance.

“The segregation was real and intentional, and that has resulted in decades of disinvestment in traditionally Black communities,” Ramos said. “As well as flight from other parts of the city.”

A century later, some houses are left unclaimed after their owners passed away. Some are abandoned when families can’t keep up with the mortgage or taxes, and others are owned by foreign investors or landlords who have yet to develop the property, Ramos said.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos walks by abandoned row homes on April 25, 2023. Her proposed land bank would allow the city to buy certain vacant properties and sell them to developers or prospective homeowners. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

BALTIMORE JUVENILE ASSAILANTS BEHIND STRING OF RIDE-SHARE CARJACKINGS, KIDNAPPINGS, POLICE SAY

Private developers demolished or rehabbed about 1,300 vacant properties last year, Ramos said, but another 1,100 became vacant. Baltimore’s population has also declined 7% over the past decade, with experts suggesting crime, lackluster schools and high property taxes could be to blame.

“But we know that more people do want to move here,” Ramos said. “So having the inventory is going to be critical.”

The city currently owns about 1,000 of them, less than 8% of the total. But a plan from Ramos and Councilman James Torrence seeks to drastically increase that number by creating Maryland’s first land bank.

If their legislation is approved, the quasi-governmental Land Bank Authority (LBA) would acquire abandoned properties through in rem foreclosure, when the liens on a property exceed its assessed value. The LBA would then list its inventory online using a fixed-price model, with the goal of cutting down on auctions and city red tape.

Developers demolished or fixed up around 1,300 vacant properties in 2022, according to Ramos, but around 1,100 more became vacant in the same period.  (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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“If we do this right and we have money on the street and the houses are being rehabbed and more people are moving in, it’s eventually going to pay for itself,” Ramos said. “So it’s very exciting.”

An 11-member board would run the LBA under the legislation, and the land bank would last 15 years.

“We want the work to get done and then it will go away,” Ramos said.

Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.

Baltimore drag racing wreaks havoc in community despite attempted city crackdown

Drag racing and stunt driving in Baltimore remain issues of top concern, despite calls from city council members to heighten penalties for violators of the city’s street racing laws. 

Fox News Digital recently obtained exclusive footage of stunt driving in Baltimore from a patron of a nearby restaurant within steps of the reckless driving, where drivers were seen overtaking a public street on the corner of Lancaster Street and South Central Avenue.

The patron told Fox News Digital that a woman at the restaurant told him this isn’t “uncommon” in the Baltimore neighborhood.

In July 2022, a Baltimore police officer responded to a drag racing incident that quickly turned violent. After rocks and bottles were reportedly thrown at the officer, he was sent to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, shining a light on the dangers of drag racing and reckless driving in the city.

BALTIMORE SCHOOLS ACCUSED OF COVERING UP LOW TEST SCORES: ‘TREATING US LIKE WE’RE STUPID’

Stunt driving in Baltimore, April 2022. (Fox News Digital)

Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Scott and City Council President Nick Mosby, asking about what action, if any, would be taken against these violators, but received no response. 

Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schliefler of District 5 introduced a new council bill last summer to enforce stricter penalties for drag racers in the city. In October 2022, Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott signed the new legislation into law.

In response to the video, Schliefler told Fox News Digital that the “BPD is rolling out a presentation to all districts to inform the officers of the new law and how it should be enforced.” 

“Last time this behavior occurred in my district the individual who was doing the donuts received multiple citations and his car towed,” he added. 

It is unclear why this presentation is being rolled out six months after the law was passed.

POLICE AND LAWMAKERS ACROSS THE US LOOK TO PUT AN END TO ILLEGAL STREET RACING

“Council bill 22-0247 – Obstructing Street – Racing or Stunt Driving is NOW LAW! Baltimore City is now leading the charge to end this dangerous and disruptive behavior,” Schliefler wrote in a Twitter post after the bill was signed into law.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Baltimore Police Department about the stunt drivers doing donuts in the street, but a spokesperson said, “We have no information about this and will have to look into it.”

According to the law office of Hillel Traub, a Maryland law office, the penalties for drag racing include “being placed under arrest, vehicle impoundment, criminal fines of up to $500, the suspension of your driver’s license, jail time and/or probation.” 

Aubrie Spady is a Freelance Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.

Baltimore streets shut down by drivers doing dangerous stunts as crime soars

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Drivers shut down streets in Baltimore, Maryland by doing dangerous stunts in the middle of traffic Friday night.

Footage shows a crowd of people surrounding a car in the middle of an intersection as it drives erratically, and cars can be seen stacked bumper-to-bumper in a standstill on both sides of the intersection.

The Baltimore City chapter of the Fraternal order of Police (FOP) stated that officers arrived on the scene to find a city medical vehicle blaring its lights and sirens stuck in the traffic.

BALTIMORE MAYOR WALKS AWAY AFTER REPORTER QUESTIONS HIS CRIME-DROP CLAIMS

“Mayor [Brandon] Scott and [Police Commissioner Michael] Harrison’s approach to criminal behavior has led to lawlessness,” the union chapter tweeted Saturday. The good citizens of Baltimore don’t want what happened next to Little Italy last night (see video) and elsewhere every night!”

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The incident comes as Baltimore faces a general surge in crime, including violent crime. Homicides are up 11% and non-fatal shootings are up 30% compared to 2021, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore has suffered 81 reported homicides so far in 2022, an increase compared to the same point in 2021. Baltimore has surpassed 300 homicides for six years in a row, and is on track to do so again.

How much do Baltimore taxpayers spend per student?

Baltimore public schools spend more than $17,000 in taxpayer funds per student.

The district ranks No. 3 for the most money spent per student in Maryland, according to a 2019 report from the Maryland Department of Legislative Services.

The $17,493 total spent per pupil is broken down into $1,482 in federal funding, $12,223 in state funding, $3,703 in local funding, and $85 in “miscellaneous” funding.

MARYLAND GOV. HOGAN CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO BALTIMORE HS FAILING STUDENTS, OTHERS CALL FOR SHUTDOWN

The total budget for the Baltimore school district is $1.2 billion, 70% of which comes from taxpayer funds, according to Fox 4

Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts (Credit: Google Maps)

Of the 100 largest school districts in the U.S., Baltimore gets the fifth most funding per pupil, a 2020 U.S. Census report shows.

Baltimore has a total of 83,800 enrolled public school students, with 11,273 full-time staff members, 914 certified instructional teachers and 191 total public schools. More than 83% of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.

BALTIMORE HS STUDENTS FAILS ALL BUT 3 CLASSES OVER 4 YEARS, RANKS NEAR TOP HALF OF CLASS

Augusta Fells, a West Baltimore public school that recently came under fire after Fox 45 published an investigation that found scores of students at the school are failing and may have to repeat grades, gets $5.3 million from taxpayers each year, the outlet reported. The investigations have prompted questions about how the school’s funds are being spent.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday called for an investigation into the school.

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“This is something I’m going to ask the inspector general to immediately look into,” he told Fox 45. “They have to get to the bottom of this and find out who’s responsible.”

Baltimore tops 50 homicides in first three months of 2020, activists say city ‘was never like this’

Only three months into the new year and more than 50 people have been killed in the Baltimore city area.

The Baltimore Police Department announced Sunday that 19-year-old Graham Blake was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 26-year-old man on Friday, one of four shootings in Charm City Friday night that left two men dead and four injured.

At least 52 homicides were been reported throughout the city as of March 2, according to a tally by The Baltimore Sun. The major northeastern city in Maryland of more than 600,000 people is one of the most dangerous in America, according to the FBI.

AMERICA’S TOP 5 DEADLIEST CITIES

The city ended 2019 with 348 homicides, its fifth year in a row with more than 300 slayings and the second-deadliest year on record.

Baltimore ended 2019 with at least 348 reported homicides, according to data compiled by The Baltimore Sun.
(iStock)

The city’s string of killings so far in 2020 has Baltimore already on track to surpass 300 homicides for yet another yet, according to FOX45.

“This city was never like this, even when it was at its worst,” activist Tyree Moorehead told FOX45 on Sunday. “That’s scary because there’s people whose family members haven’t been shot yet that have a bullet with their name on it and don’t even know it.”

Residents and community activists are hoping to bring back a community that’s disengaged. The Rev. Alvin Hathaway told FOX45 too many in the city are going around treating the violence “like this is average, like nothing is different,” and that community members need to step up and “be the change.”

“You have a whole host of people who are feeling like they’re afraid,” Hathaway told FOX45. “This is red flag time. We’ve got to call all hands on deck and pull the city together.”

RESIDENTS ANGRY AT LEADERSHIP AS BALTIMORE SEES 15 SHOT, 5 FATALLY, THIS WEEKEND

Last month, a former state corrections official who had been under investigation was killed and two fugitive task force officers were wounded in a shooting at a Baltimore apartment complex after trying to serve a warrant out of Pennsylvania for attempted murder.

Law enforcement personnel work at the scene which appears to show a body covered under a white blanket outside of an apartment, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Baltimore.
(Ulysses Muñoz/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

The shootings happened as officials have increased the presence of federal law enforcement officers in the city to stymie gang-related activity and violent crime as a whole.

In December, the Department of Justice announced a plan to increase the overall number of federal agents in Baltimore and add more officers to task forces. Months earlier, the department unveiled a task force focused on gun- and drug-related crime in the city.

Task force members, including agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, work from a shared location to increase coordination. The task force to which the wounded officers belong also includes Secret Service agents.

Baltimore has been in the throes of a steep rise in violent crime since 2015, when the homicide rate spiked amid the city’s worst rioting in decades following the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody.

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Over the summer, Baltimore Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young said local leadership isn’t to blame for the city’s increasing homicide rate.

“I’m not committing the murders,” he said then. In June at an anti-gun violence rally, the mayor advocated organized fights as a means to solve disputes without using weapons.

Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.