Baltimore’s homicide toll for 2015 reached what police commissioner Kevin Davis called a “sad” milestone of 300 over the weekend.
The announcement came on the same day that the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley saw the issue of crime in the city rebound on him in the Democratic presidential debate.
In an exchange onstage in Des Moines, Iowa, O’Malley said both former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, whom he trails by some distance in polls, were not strong enough on gun control issues.
Sanders noted the announcement of the 300th homicide of the year as he retorted: “I think it’s fair to say that Baltimore is not one of the safest cities in America.”
Less than four hours after the announcement of that 300th killing, Baltimore police reported another homicide on Saturday night. They said a 22-year-old man was shot in the chest and died a short time later. Police did not immediately announce the man’s identity.
The 300th homicide recorded earlier on Saturday was the stabbing death of a 27-year-old man.
It is the first time since 1999 that the city has recorded 300 homicides. In 2014, the city saw 211 killings for the year.
