Social media ablaze with reports of apparent police shooting
The entire world has had eyes on Baltimore for some time now, during a week of protests and riots following the funeral of Freddie Gray, who died a week after being mysteriously injured while in police custody. Marilyn Mosby, the Maryland State Attorney for the city of Baltimore charged 6 cops with a bevy of felonies, including manslaughter and murder as part of a huge announcement made last week. Since then, Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has rescinded the 10 p.m. curfew, and the National Guard has retreated, leading many to believe that the city would slowly but surely return to a state of calm.
Unfortunately, that may not be the case.
Just moments ago, social media erupted with reports from reporters and activists on the ground in Baltimore that a Baltimore cop has shot a Black male in the back, and cops maced several others nearby in what sounds like an absolutely chaotic scene.
BREAKING: Our producers in Baltimore say they saw a police officer shoot a man just moments ago.
— Shepard Smith (@ShepNewsTeam) May 4, 2015
The @BaltimorePolice just shot a black man at Pennsylvania & North. They think it’s a game. #BaltimoreUprising
— deray mckesson (@deray) May 4, 2015
EMERGENCY: Black youth shot in back at Penn & North in #Baltimore, crowd gathering, WATCh Livestream here NOW: http://t.co/gvtFfK7zTx — Aarón Martel (@aaronmartel) May 4, 2015
There are even more tweets from bystanders who are claiming that the incident happened right in front of the Fox News crew, and surely enough, about 20 minutes ago, the Fox News Twitter account sent out this tweet.
DEVELOPING: Man shot multiple times by #Baltimore police. http://t.co/M8KoiUxUQH — Fox News (@FoxNews) May 4, 2015
What makes this situation even more bizarre, is this tweet sent out by the Baltimore Police Twitter account moments ago, claiming nothing of the sort happened.
The reports of a man being shot at North and Pennsylvania Ave are NOT true. Officers have arrested a man for a handgun at the location — Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) May 4, 2015
Then, just for reassurance.
UPDATE: The reports of a shooting at North Ave/ Pennsylvania Ave are unfounded. Officers have arrested a man with a gun.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) May 4, 2015
Here’s a video clip of some of the chaos that ensued shortly after the alleged incident.
