A man was killed and three other people were wounded in a shooting at a get-together in an Annapolis, Md., cul-de-sac early Sunday, and Police Chief Edward Jackson said bullets that struck nearby houses could easily have hit others.
Police have not disclosed a motive for the shooting that left Shawn McGowan, 28, of Baltimore, dead, though they said it they do not believe it was random.
"I take it personally," said a frustrated Jackson, who was hired last year to address concerns about crime in the city's disadvantaged neighborhoods after serving in the Baltimore Police Department and teaching criminal justice.
"We're going to do everything we can to put a stop to it. It's senseless. It's systemic. And I don't want the city of Annapolis to suffer some of the same crime ills, as well as social ills, as other jurisdictions," Jackson said at a news conference Sunday.
Two 17-year-old girls from Annapolis were among those shot at the gathering, and they rushed into a home with injuries that were not believed to be life- threatening, said Cpl. Dave Stokes, an Annapolis police spokesman. "It occurred outside, and they ran inside the residence," Stokes said.
Jackson said the scene left him horrified at how much worse the tragic early morning might have been.
"When I looked at the houses and saw what appeared to be bullet holes, I'm thinking, Oh my God. Who slept in that front room? It could have been a kid who has his whole life ahead of him and could have potentially been a victim, just by being in their own bedroom,' " Jackson said. "It could easily have been more victims, other than the intended target."
Jackson declined to get into questions of motive, because he said he did not want to prejudice the case. "It may have been a party. We do know it was some type of disagreement, some type of argument that led to a fight that, ultimately, led to the shooting," he said.
Police received several calls about hearing gunshots, and arrived at 12:11 a.m. "There were a lot of shell casings," Jackson said.
McGowan was pronounced dead at the scene. A 26-year-old, along with the two teenagers, also was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.
Jackson said the shooting took place in a neighborhood rich with history yet beset with challenges.
"Clay Street is a very old-Annapolis community, it's been here almost as long as Annapolis has been here," Jackson said, adding that work has been done to improve public safety there but social problems, including mental illness, drug addiction and absentee parents, remain.
"You see the trash, you see blight, it sends a strong message, if I'm a criminal, that the people are hopeless," Jackson added. "Crime is environmental. Crime is not only an exercise of an individual's free will to either do right or wrong."
Jackson said social distancing orders connected with the coronavirus pandemic have pushed many to come out for gatherings, something that has happened before on Clay Street, though most have been peaceful.
"There's far too much gun violence. Every jurisdiction's suffering from it in this pandemic," Jackson said. "A lot of times, people have nothing else to do, so they come outside and they interact."
But in communities, including many beyond Annapolis, where handguns are plentiful, he said, "unfortunately all it takes is one dispute, one confrontation, and it can turn deadly quick."
Rhonda Pindell-Charles, an alderman who heads the Annapolis City Council's public safety committee, called for "strong and bold and swift action" in response to the violence.
Pindell-Charles cited the model of increased police presence in vulnerable communities after two teenagers were shot in two incidents within 24 hours in the Annapolis Gardens community. Fourteen-year-old Camarin Wallace was killed July 27.
She called for placing police officers "in every challenged community in this city, 24-7," on an indefinite basis. "It worked at the time we had our Annapolis Gardens homicide," Pindell-Charles said. "No one has ever said, Miss Rhonda, please remove the officers from my community," she said.
To pay for the added presence, the former prosecutor said she believes there's a legal argument for using coronavirus relief funds passed by Congress earlier this year, and she has called on city leadership to do so.
