What To Know Today
Baltimore to expand services for gun violence victims. “Many feel frustrated that there appears to be little evidence of significant positive change in the quality of relationships between [Baltimore Police] and those who feel least safe in Baltimore,” read a recent report on victim services released by the city and the Department of Justice. The report’s findings were front and center as Mayor Brandon Scott on Friday announced new efforts to improve services for gun violence victims. The changes, supported by $8 million from American Rescue Plan funds, will include an expanded Victim Services Unit within the Police Department, community awareness about existing services, and wraparound services for victims. The report made numerous similar recommendations, specifically calling for avoiding “coercive and counterproductive practices” against victims during hospital treatment. Related from The Trace: Last year, we profiled Tashante McCoy-Ham, a gun violence prevention activist in California who also advocates for police to treat gun violence victims and their families with dignity.
Chicago’s surrounding county announces $75M in federally supported gun violence prevention grants. The money, announced on Friday, was disbursed in 34 separate awards to 68 different organizations providing an array of community-focused services including youth programs, jobs support, and street-based intervention and violence interruption. Block Club Chicago reports that 37 Chicago-based violence-prevention groups will get money through the grants. “Those working at the community level are best poised to offer the support our at-risk neighbors need to avoid becoming involved in gun violence,” Cook CountyBoard President Toni Preckwinkle said.
Federal judge dismisses gun rights challenge to Minnesota State Fair’s ban on guns. On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim ruled that the State Agricultural Society, which runs the state’s fair, was justified in banning guns at the event over public safety concerns. “The Fairgrounds are a sensitive location with thousands of people and children present in often crowded conditions,” Tunheim wrote. “As such, protecting the fairground from gunfire is a compelling interest.” He also ruled the gun rights activists who brought the suit lacked standing to bring the case. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen, which greatly expanded the right to carry a gun in public, the scope of so-called sensitive place bans on gun carrying in public are expected to become one of the most contested areas in Second Amendment jurisprudence.
Would-be FBI attacker was a Navy veteran with an increasingly dark social media presence. The 42-year-old man, who was fatally shot after a standoff with police following his attempted breach of an FBI field office, was previously known to the FBI because he had been at the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection. However, the bureau’s agents couldn’t locate him for an interview and the information they did have on him “did not contain a specific and credible threat,” the FBI said in a statement. USA TODAY sheds further light on the suspect’s social media presence, which included a nine-day-old account on Donald Trump’s platform, Truth Social. He used it to post hundreds of messages in that short time, including a call to violence against the FBI shortly before his attack. Related: Over the weekend, a handful of Trump supporters, a few of them armed, gathered outside the FBI office in Phoenix to protest the recent Mar-a-Lago search.
Man crashes into U.S. Capitol barricade, starts firing, and dies by suicide. Early Sunday morning, a 29-year-old Delaware man fired multiple gunshots in the air after crashing his car, and then shot himself when law enforcement approached him, Capitol Police said in a statement. No one else was injured and authorities were still searching for a motive. “At this time, it does not appear the man was targeting any Members of Congress, who are on recess, and it does not appear officers fired their weapons,” the Capitol Police statement read.
Data Point
More than 700 — the number of shooting victims in Philadelphia since 2018 who were under 18, including 136 so far this year, according to a tally from columnist Helen Ubiñas. Overall since 2018, there have been about 9,000 total shooting victims in the city. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
