Posted on 10/19/21
| News Source: WBAL
There is an increase in the number of homicides in Baltimore County are on the rise.
Police attribute the increase in killings to the COVID-19 pandemic and more behavioral health incidents.
Homicides have increased by nearly 40% in the county. According to police, the sharpest increase is in Wilkens and Woodlawn on the west side and Dundalk and Essex on the east side.
Neighbors are describing a shootout that took place around 1:30 p.m. at a waterfront park over the weekend in Middle River.
"There were about eight or nine shots, then a little pause and then a few more shots after that," said one resident who declined to her give name.
According to residents, the victim, identified by police as 22-year-old Dimarco Johnson, refused to drop his own weapon even after getting shot. Residents couldn't help him. He died at the hospital.
"It's getting kind of scary. It really is," said resident Brian Kamiski.
Also, over the weekend in Timonium, just after 11 p.m. Friday, someone shot and killed 48-year-old Anthony Cooper in the parking lot of Bowlero.
Baltimore County police are investigating 46 murders so far this year. There were 33 in all of last year.
"It seems as though it is getting a little more dangerous," Kamiski said.