1994-1996 SPECIAL REPORT: "BALTIMORE"(PART XIX)

THE NUMBER 300 hung in the air as Christmas approached, nervously watched by a city trapped in a race between time and death. For eight straight years, Baltimore’s homicide rate had topped the 300 mark, and it seemed inevitable that 1998 would become the ninth.

No. 299 came on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 17, and for several days, there was quiet. But the lull did not comfort grizzled homicide investigators. For them, the question was not “if” another body would fall, but “when.”

They did not have to wait long. No. 300 came on Monday, Dec. 21. The next day, The Sun ran a story about the killing on the front of the Maryland section. “300th homicide recorded in city,” blared the headline. The victim seemed overshadowed by the the infamous statistic.

With 312 killings in 1997, Baltimore ranked as the fourth deadliest city in the nation per capita — with 46 killings per 100,000 people — behind Gary, Ind., New Orleans and Washington. The national average is about 6.8 per 100,000.

#baltimore

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