8 people shot, 1 dead at cookouts in west Baltimore, reports say

Authorities stand at Edmondson and Whitmore after multiple people were shot, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in west Baltimore. At least one person was killed and six others wounded.

Credit: Kenneth K. Lam

Credit: Kenneth K. Lam

Authorities stand at Edmondson and Whitmore after multiple people were shot, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in west Baltimore. At least one person was killed and six others wounded.

Police in Baltimore are searching for a gunman who opened fire on a crowd gathered on a city street for cookouts Sunday afternoon on the city’s west side, leaving one dead and seven others wounded, according to news reports.

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The cookouts were near a Baptist church but was not connected to the church, according to WJZ-TV.

It happened around 5 p.m. Sunday, according to Baltimore police spokeswoman Chakia Fennoy, who confirmed to The Associated Press that one person was killed and seven others injured by gunfire.

A man approached the crowd on foot and opened fire, WJZ reported. Police believe it was a “targeted shooting” and that another person may have returned fire.

Fennoy was unable to confirm the conditions of the seven victims or a motive in the shooting.

Baltimore’s acting Mayor Jack Young is asking for the public’s help in finding the gunman.

“Someone knows something. These things happen, they don’t happen by happenstance,” Young said during a press conference after the shooting.

“People know who’s doing these shootings,” he said.