Investigators in Baltimore are searching for multiple suspects in a mass shooting that launched a beloved annual neighborhood block party into chaos early Sunday, killing two people and injuring 28 others, most of whom were teens, officials said.
The gunfire erupted overnight in the south Baltimore neighborhood of Brooklyn, where community members were enjoying a yearly celebration dubbed Brooklyn Day, Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN.
Aaliyah Gonzales, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, were fatally shot, the Baltimore Police Department announced.
The dozens of surviving victims all sustained gunshot wounds, according to acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley. Five of those injured were adults aged 20 or older and the remaining 23 were teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 19, police said.
Nine of the wounded remained in local hospitals in "various conditions" as of Sunday afternoon, Worley said.
Investigators are scouring the sprawling crime scene -- which spans several blocks -- for evidence and are pouring poring over hours of surveillance footage, the police commissioner said. Officials have also urged community members to come forward with any relevant information or video footage that may assist in the investigation.
At least two shooters were involved, though investigators are working to determine whether there may have been more people firing, Worley said.
Police began receiving calls reporting the shooting around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Worley.
As officers arrived on the scene, they found an 18-year-old woman -- later identified as Gonzales -- dead, police said. A 20-year-old identified as Fagbemi was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators have yet to determine a motive in the attack and are still figuring out whether the victims were targeted or indiscriminately shot at, the police commissioner said. As officers canvased the neighborhood during the day Sunday, K-9 units located additional shell casings that had not been found overnight, he said.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Sunday his office is mobilizing every available resource to assist with the investigation.
Scott shared a message for the shooters: "We will not stop until we find you -- and we will find you."
"Until then, I hope with every single breath that you take that you think about the lives that you took and you think about the lives that you impacted here tonight," he added.
The attack marks one of the latest acts of gun violence to thrust an American community into grief as they gather in everyday spaces, including parks, schools, shopping malls and grocery stores.
"This was a reckless, cowardly act of violence that has taken two lives and altered many, many more," Scott said. "This tragic incident is another glaring, unfortunate example of the deep issues of violence in Baltimore, in Maryland and this country and particularly gun violence and the access to illegal guns."
The tragedy is among three mass shootings so far this month and adds to the tally of more than 330 mass shootings in the US in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
Gunfire shatters community festivity
Officials lamented the joyful setting of the shooting, where a crowd had gathered for an annual celebration of the Brooklyn neighborhood.
"This indiscriminate, callous, reckless behavior by a few causes a tremendous amount of trauma to hundreds and particularly our vulnerable adults in this community and our children. They deserve better," Baltimore City Council president Nick Mosby said at a Sunday news conference.
"These are events that are about celebration, about coming together, that are intergenerational and should be sacred to our communities," Mosby added.
Scott, the mayor, described the Brooklyn neighborhood as a working-class community filled with "immense pride."
"It is a neighborhood that has had its troubles, but a neighborhood that has seen some folks in that community really determined to see it be successful and see things turn around," he added.
The mayor said his his office is distributing information about community-based services available to residents in the Brooklyn Homes area, which he described as a public housing facility.
Yvonne Booker, a resident of Brooklyn Homes, told CNN affiliate WBAL that she's lived in the area for three decades and feels the gun violence has reached a breaking point.
"It's kind of hard for me. I'm a mother. They need to stop. It's too much. I've been to so many funerals in this community," Booker said.