11-year-old shot on playground in West Baltimore during drive-by shooting, police say

An 11-year-old was shot while playing on a playground in West Baltimore Wednesday night during an apparent drive-by shooting targeting a man who was also struck by gunfire, officials said.

The boy was taken to the hospital after being shot in the abdomen, but is believed to be in stable condition, Police Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters from the scene in the Upton neighborhood.

“Two cowards” pulled up in a vehicle and opened fire on a playground near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street, Worley said. During “indiscriminate gunfire,” the shooters struck the boy and a 26-year-old man who police believe they were targeting.

Standing beside Worley, Mayor Brandon Scott denounced the shooting, describing it as evil.

“Our thoughts and our prayers are with both victims, especially the young child,” Scott said. “What we have here is another case of weak ass men who cannot solve their dispute without gunfire.”

Worley said officers received a call around 7:40 p.m. for reports of a shooting near the intersection, which features an elementary school, church, recreation center and convenience store.

When they arrived, officers found two people who had been shot: The boy and the man, who are not believed to be related, Worley said. Both were taken to hospitals and are believed to be in stable condition.

Worley did not say where the 26-year-old was shot, or how many rounds were fired, but he said one of the shooters used a rifle.

The commissioner said police were withholding a description of the suspect vehicle.

Scott added a call to action and a promise of accountability.

“Someone knows who did this. If you know who they are, if that’s your son, tell them what’s the only thing left to keep their dignity and turn themselves in,” Scott said. “If you are helping these people hide, we will come for you.”

Police cordoned off the area between McCulloh Homes and the elementary school with yellow crime scene tape. Officers also placed more than a dozen orange evidence cones at the intersection, near Robert C. Marshall Recreation Center.

The recreation center is across the street from Furman L. Templeton Elementary School on one side of that intersection. On the other side, there is the Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E Zion Church and a convenience store, which backs up to the parking area of a Save A Lot grocery.

Elderly people on scooters rode by along with adults carrying babies. Teens could be seen riding bikes and bouncing basketballs.

The double shooting in Upton followed another hours earlier and about 2 miles away in the Mondawmin neighborhood that left a man injured.

Around 4 p.m., officers assigned to the Police Department’s Western District Station went to a residence in the 2000 block of N. Bentalou Street in response to reports of a shooting, police said in a news release.

Once there, officers learned that someone was taken to a hospital by family members, police said. Officers went to the hospital and found a 19-year-old man was being treated for what police described as non life-threatening gunshot wounds to his arm.

Police said officers caught a “person of interest” after chasing him on foot briefly. That person was taken to a hospital for injuries. Police also said an officer suffered a “minor injury to his hand” during the encounter.

The department encouraged anyone with information about the earlier shooting to call Western District Shooting Detectives at 410-396-2477.

This article has been updated.