19-year-old wounded in west Baltimore shooting, police investigate

A 19-year-old man was wounded after a Friday afternoon shooting that led Baltimore police to a hospital and then to the 1600 block of North Carey Street in Sandtown-Winchester. Officers were called just before 4 p.m. on May 1, found the man with a gunshot wound to the back, and he was listed in stable condition.

Police said the preliminary investigation points to the Western District scene on North Carey Street, giving the case a clear neighborhood focus in one of west Baltimore’s most closely watched corridors. The shooting is being investigated as detectives work to determine exactly where it happened and who was involved.

Baltimore police asked anyone with information to call detectives at 410-396-2477. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland at 1-866-7LOCKUP.

The shooting lands in Sandtown-Winchester at a time when city leaders have highlighted recent drops in violence. On May 1, Mayor Brandon M. Scott said Baltimore had recorded 33 homicides and 89 non-fatal shootings through that morning, down 10.8% and 11.9%, respectively, from the same point in 2025. He also said April 2026 had the fewest homicides in a single month in Baltimore since at least 1970.

Sandtown-Winchester has also been a focus of violence-prevention work. City officials said the Safe Streets Sandtown-Winchester site had gone more than 365 days without a homicide in its catchment zone as of March 25, 2026. The last homicide inside that boundary was on March 15, 2025, in the 1500 block of North Sticker Street, and the city said the site had logged more than 73 successful mediations since then.

Safe Streets Baltimore is operated by Catholic Charities of Baltimore in collaboration with the Baltimore City Department of Health and the Mayor’s Office for Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. The program uses credible messengers in high-violence areas to help interrupt retaliation and prevent shootings and homicides, making each new gunfire call in the neighborhood a direct test of that effort.