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Viral video mom: 'I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray'
Toya Graham, the mother seen on a viral video slapping and yelling at her son as she hauled him away from Baltimore's riots, tells “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” why she did it.
¿He gave me eye contact, and at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that. ... That's my only son, and at the end of the day, I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray,¿ Graham says in a CBS video.
Her son, who is identified as a 16-year-old in a Variety article, reportedly was protesting and wearing a mask when Graham tracked him down.
FOR THE RECORD
April 28, 4:13 p.m.:
An earlier version of this post said the son was described as a 16-year-old in a Vanity Fair article. It was a Variety article.
--Ann Haley
City is prepared for tonight, governor says
Officials aren't sure there won't be any more violence in Baltimore, but they struck a hopeful note.
As curfew announced, peaceful protests continue in northwest Baltimore
As Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts convene a news conference to announce a 24-hour curfew, peaceful protest continues down Pennsylvania Avenue in northwest Baltimore.
Mayor, police commissioner hold news conference
Musical respite during protest
The crowd seems peaceful at the protest site, where there's singing, a drum circle and a barbecue.
Crime decreasing in Freddie Gray's neighborhood, police data show
There has been less crime in recent years in the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray was arrested, although the area has long been racked by drug violence and gang activity, according to Baltimore Police Department data.
There were 960 reported crimes in Baltimore's Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park sections in 2014, a 15% dip from 1,134 in 2010, records show. Aggravated assaults (felonies) and common assaults (misdemeanors), generally considered the best indicators of overall crime, have also declined since 2010. Common assaults, which peaked with 321 reported incidents in 2011, fell each year afterward, dipping 30% in 2014, as compared with 2011.
Burglaries followed a similar arc, with reported crimes declining in 2012 and 2013 after a slight surge in 2011.
The neighborhoods are overwhelmingly populated by black residents, and police records show most arrests there since 2013 were of black men charged with narcotics offenses.
A discomforting scene outside CVS
¿We worked very hard to get CVS to come here,¿ Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told reporters earlier. ¿What happened last night means that more people are struggling.¿
Baltimore church leader whose building burned during riots defends mayor
The Rev. Donte Hickman, whose church was building a senior center that burned down Monday night, told MSNBC that Baltimore's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, is doing her best to navigate through the uproar and violence.
¿Who would've anticipated that something like this would happen?¿ he said. ¿This fire last night just put a light on a very dark situation.¿
Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but Hickman said he believes the fire was deliberately set.
The senior center was more than just 60 units of affordable housing, Hickman said. The building also would have housed behavioral counseling, life coaching and HIV treatment, among other services.
Hickman said that he overcame major obstacles during his youth and he feels that it's his job to help those in similar circumstances.
¿Dr. [Martin Luther] King said that riots are the language of those who are unheard,¿ he said. ¿So many of our children are just looked over -- it seems like nobody cares.¿
Baltimore violence prompts Orioles schedule change
The Baltimore Orioles announced several changes to their upcoming home-game schedule because of safety concerns caused by violent clashes between rioters and police in the city.
After postponing the first two games of a three-game series against the visiting Chicago White Sox, the Orioles announced that the Wednesday series finale would be closed to the general public.
The Orioles also said the team's weekend home series against the Tampa Bay Rays will not take place at Camden Yards. Instead, it will take place at the Rays' home, Tropicana Field.
The decision to postpone and reschedule the games was made after Orioles officials consulted with Major League Baseball and city officials, the team said.
Councilman: Violent youth don't represent Baltimore
In an interview with CNN, Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes said the city's leadership is ¿disconnected¿ from the public.
Some of Baltimore's youth don't ¿feel respected so they don't know respect,¿ Stokes said. But the youth who violently took to the streets and damaged buildings don't represent Baltimore, he said.
"Today's pictures are the real Baltimore, not last night's pictures," Stokes said, because they show young people ¿out there on the streets cleaning up immediately.¿
'The Wire' creator David Simon, cast members tell rioters to 'go home'
David Simon, creator of the hit HBO series "The Wire" — long and widely praised for its depiction of Baltimore's race and class issues ¿ has written a blog post calling for an end to the riots that grew out of peaceful protests Monday.
"If you can't seek redress and demand reform without a brick in your hand, you risk losing this moment for all of us in Baltimore," he wrote on his personal website Monday night. "Turn around. Go home. Please."
Simon's sentiments, which were echoed this morning by President Obama (see below), were also shared by "Wire" cast members including Wendell Pierce (who played Det. William "Bunk" Moreland) and Andre Royo (Bubbles) on Twitter.
Cast members Michael Kenneth Williams (who played the charismatic informant and fan favorite Omar Little) and Lance Reddick (Lt. Cedrick Daniels), however, have been posting and retweeting others' more sympathetic views, including a photo of a protester in a gas mask (Williams), fist held high, and a Facebook post urging critics to consider the looters' life experiences (Reddick).
Orioles-White Sox game closed to public
Police captain: 'I think everyone in Baltimore is looking forward to peace returning'
At a news conference, Police Capt. Eric Kowalczyk gave the latest update on the situation in Baltimore, where he said at least 20 officers have been injured.
A crowd on North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue has remained peaceful.
"That's what we're used to seeing in Baltimore," he said.
He added that officers will be enforcing a 10 p.m. curfew.
"I think everyone in Baltimore is looking forward to peace returning," Kowalcyzk said.
And here are more updates:
Baltimore gangs: 'We did not make truce to harm cops'
Members of Baltimore gangs like the BGF, the Bloods and the Crips -- which came to a truce over the last few days in response to the peaceful protests and subsequent riots prompted by the death in police custody of 25-year-old Freddie Gray -- have spoken to local news media about their negative portrayal in the media.
"We did not make that truce to harm cops," one of a group of unnamed representatives told WBAL-TV 11, an NBC affiliate. "We're not about to allow y'all to paint this picture of us."
He said the moratorium on their myriad rivalries was agreed upon "to stop what's going on -- that's all we're trying to do. We want justice for Freddie Gray. We believe in that."
The violence "just makes us look bad," the representative added. "It's backing up what they're saying about us. They saying we animals, and we acting like savages out here."
History of police brutality in Baltimore
The Baltimore Sun published a series called "Undue Force" in September that focused on police brutality and its cost to the city.
Since 2011, the city has paid about $5.7 million over lawsuits that claim police officers beat up suspects.
More than 100 people over the last four years have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations.
According to The Baltimore Sun, victims include a 15-year-old boy on a dirt bike and an 87-year-old grandmother helping her wounded grandson.
Al Sharpton, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to meet Tuesday
The Rev. Al Sharpton will meet with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing unrest in the city.
Sharpton, who has taken prominent roles in calling for justice in the recent high-profile deaths of black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, also plans to meet with clergy members.
The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that Sharpton is planning a May march from Baltimore to Washington in a call for justice for Freddie Gray.
'Mom of the year' hauls young man out of riots
Video is going viral of a woman yanking a young man identified by media outlets as her son out of Baltimore's riots, then hitting and yelling at him.
She was praised by Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts: ¿If you saw on one scene, you had one mother who grabbed her child who had a hood on his head and she started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed. I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight.¿
Fox News contributor Charles Payne called her ¿mom of the year¿ on Twitter, a sentiment that quickly was picked up.
--Ann Haley
More on that political sparring
Did the city move too slowly in seeking help to keep the peace? In comments she made after the death of Freddie Gray, did Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake open the door for protests to turn violent when she said "... we gave those who wished to destroy space to do that, as well"?
Asked if the mayor should have called for help sooner, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan replied that he didn't want to question what Baltimore officials were doing: ¿They're all under tremendous stress. We're all on one team.¿
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