Stolen futures: Baltimore faces uptick in youth violence

By LEA SKENE
Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — In response to rising youth violence, Baltimore leaders are ramping up efforts to de-escalate conflicts between young people and protect students going to and from school. Officials last week announced an arrest in the March 6 killing of Izaiah Carter, a 16-year-old who was fatally shot in a park adjacent to his east Baltimore high school. He’s one of three high schoolers killed within blocks of their schools so far in 2023 — even as Baltimore shootings and homicides overall have each decreased about 25% compared to this time last year. Carter’s mother, Michelle Hines, questions whether the school system and law enforcement could have done more to protect her son.