Baltimore records historic homicide decreases as Trump continues his attacks

Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun on Sep 1, 2025

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BALTIMORE — The seven homicides recorded in Baltimore last month were the fewest in the month of August on record, helping the city record its lowest homicide total through the first eight months of a year in over half a century, Mayor Brandon Scott said Monday.

But that didn’t prevent President Donald Trump from escalating his attacks on what he described Monday in a social media post as “the crime-drenched city of Baltimore.”

Baltimore recorded 91 homicides and 218 nonfatal shootings in the first eight months of 2025, Scott said in the news release. That represents a 29.5% decline in homicides and a 21% decline in nonfatal shootings compared with the same period last year.

The reductions so far this year follow year-over-year declines in homicides during the past two full calendar years.

“Baltimore has achieved historic progress, driving down shootings and homicides to historic lows,” Scott said in the release.

Public crime data shared by the city on Open Baltimore shows that crime is down in other categories, as well.

Violent crime overall dropped by 19% through Aug. 24 as compared to the same period last year. Property crimes also occurred less frequently in the city, through their decreases were smaller.

Auto thefts were down by 34% and robberies dwindled 27%. The smallest reductions were in burglaries, which inched down by 1%, and larceny (property theft) by 2%. The only category in which crime rose was arson, and the increase was a minimal 1%, to 77 offenses.

In the news release, Scott attributed the city’s improved crime rate over the past three years to its Group Violence Reduction Strategy, which was launched in early 2022.

The program enlists neighborhood advocates to identify and reach those most at risk of committing or falling victim to gun violence.

While crime in Baltimore is down, the city has nonetheless been marred by headline-making spates of violence.

Last month, for instance, a mass shooting near the Pimlico Race Course took the life of one man and wounded five other people, including a 5-year-old girl.

Jerome Michael Coateson, 38, of 2900 Spaulding Ave., was gunned down Aug. 9 at the intersection of Queensbury and Spaulding Avenues. Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that the six victims were enjoying an outdoors crab feast when the assailant opened fire.

Trump’s comments, which were made on his Truth Social network, appeared aimed at justifying his decision last month to send U.S. National Guard troops into the nation’s capital, though he doesn’t mention the Guard directly.

His post singled out Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser for praise while ridiculing elected Democratic officials in Maryland, Illinois and California who have opposed Trump’s proposals to send troops to their states.

Bower’s “statements and actions were positive,” Trump wrote, “instead of others like [Illinois Governor J.B.] Pritzker, [Maryland Gov.] Wes Moore, [California Gov. Gavin Newsom] Newscum, and the 5% approval rated Mayor of Chicago, who spend all of their time trying to justify violent crime, instead of working with us to completely eliminate it, which we have done in Washington, D.C., now a crime free zone.”

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Moore said the state would welcome federal help on crimefighting but not in the manner that the president has proposed.

Instead of troops, Moore said federal help should include support for local law enforcement and communities.

“Asking me to deploy my National Guard — people who are not trained for municipal policing — is just not a serious approach,” Moore told the show’s co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “We need to make sure we are increasing funding for local law enforcement and we have to invest in our communities.”