Councilman Zeke Cohen's Efforts to Make Baltimore a Trauma-Responsive City

A few months ago, a group of men pulled up to the parking lot of the O’Donnell Heights playground in a black car and fired 37 rounds, injuring four people. The shooting occurred shortly after two elementary schools let out for dismissal. When the gunfire erupted, chaos ensued. According to one witness, “It was like watching a hurricane of bullets.”

The next day, I spoke with students at Holabird Academy. An eighth grader described the terror she felt hearing the “pops,” knowing that her family was walking home. “My little brother is 3. He heard everything. He saw the man bleeding out on the pavement.” As she spoke her hand trembled.

There is a cruelly predictable rhythm to Baltimore’s violence. After a shooting, local media show up on the scene for a few hours. Elected officials and police promise to redouble safety efforts and catch the bad guys. The school system sends in a couple of counselors. Eventually, public attention wanes as gunfire erupts somewhere else. Communities are left to grieve alone.

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