The death of a transgender girl in Baltimore marks the 17th person to be killed in the United States this year.
Bailey Reeves, 17, died on Labor Day from multiple gunshot wounds, according to Washington Blade. Another teenager discovered Reeves’ body lying in the middle of Parkwood Avenue.
"We were in the kitchen, it was around 8… we were getting ready for dinner and we heard three shots," the unidentified 16-year-old girl told WMAR. "We heard a girl screaming 'My friend! Someone help my friend! Call 911!'"
The scene disturbed the young witness.
"We saw her lying in the middle of the street in a pool of blood, it even traumatized me," she continued. "She was like a year older than me. I couldn’t even imagine if it was me and my friends."
The teen said she is fed up with the increasing violence in the city.
"It’s Baltimore you hear stuff about this every day but you can’t imagine really seeing, being there at that moment,” she said. “It’s a whole different aspect of it. I’m just tired of little kids, people my age just getting shot and killed for no reason. This violence has got to stop."
Christine Ernest, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, arrived at her home minutes before Reeves was murdered.
"At one point, what I thought were firecrackers but they were gunshots and then a group of five kids came running across my lawn. One fell and kind of escaped in this field… and I came out and saw the individual laying in the street… and she wasn't moving," Ernest recalled.
"I saw her and her friends were walking around and just screaming and crying," Ernest said. "It was so sad."
WJZ reported Reeves was one of two people who died from gun violence over the Labor Day weekend. The teen’s death was the fifth shooting of the night. The other victim was Milton Carrington, another teenager.
“We have to change the culture where people are deciding to solve their conflicts with violence,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison.
Mayor Jack Young admitted his city needs “community help.”
“They know who is doing all of the shootings, they know who are doing the killings, they know who is doing the car-jackings,” he continued. “They have to stop turning a blind eye.”
Police are still investigating Reeves’ death.
