15-year-old fatally shot Wednesday near Forest Park High School in Northwest Baltimore
A 15-year-old was shot and killed in a Northwest Baltimore alley Wednesday afternoon, according to Baltimore Police.
Police responded to the alley, near the intersection of Eldorado and Liberty Heights avenues, at 3:04 p.m. and found Laron Henderson suffering from gunshot wounds, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said at a Wednesday evening news conference.
Medical professionals arrived and attempted life-saving measures, but the teen was later pronounced dead at the scene, Harrison said.
“There was some type of confrontation, shots were fired, and this young man succumbed to his injuries,” Harrison said Thursday. “We’re all heartbroken over it.”
Laron was shot two blocks away from Forest Park High School, where he was a student, “a few moments after dismissal,” Harrison said.
“Many students left the school. There were plenty of people out,” Harrison said Wednesday. “We know that someone has heard someone or seen something.”
Baltimore City Public School crisis counselors were sent Thursday to Forest Park High School to help students manage the tragedy, the school system said.
“Let’s stand together as a community to honor Laron’s memory and be there for one another,” Forest Park staff wrote in a letter home.
Standing in the rain near the crime scene Wednesday night, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott lamented violence among young people and promised to “hunt [those responsible] down.” He also pointed blame toward the firearm industry, which he said was “profiting off the deaths of our people.”
“We cannot continue to allow our young people to have their lives snuffed out over nothing,” Scott said. “We have to hold everybody accountable.”
Forest Park High School is nestled in the Dorchester neighborhood, surrounded by single-family brick homes.
Thursday morning, students shuffled to class in the blustery wind after the first bell. Some teens, dropped off by cars, ran inside; others walked across the intersection and past the alley where their classmate died.
In the alley, a neighbor tied an assortment of colorful balloons to a light post to honor Laron. One balloon popped in the bitter wind.
Five police cars parked around the high schools’ perimeter Thursday. An electric sign flashed a reminder for students to pay their junior dues.
Shantay Jackson, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, called the homicide a “tragic and horrific event.”
“One of the promises of our future, one of our children, have been lost to us again as a result of gun violence,” she said Wednesday. “Not only is this young man’s family directly impacted, so is this community.”
The city officials all pleaded for those with information to contact investigators.
Northwest District detectives can be reached at 410-396-2100, and those who wish to remain anonymous can use the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-866-7LOCK-UP.
Wednesday’s shooting is the third this month that occurred near a Baltimore City public school campus. Five male Edmonson-Westside High School students were shot Jan. 5 across the street from the building. Deanta Dorsey, 16, died. A day later, two teenagers were shot near Benjamin Franklin High School in South Baltimore. The 15-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy survived.
Baltimore Sun reporter Darcy Costello contributed to this article.
