Three men shot at Northeast Baltimore strip mall, police say

Three men were shot at the Coldspring Shopping Center in Northeast Baltimore late Friday afternoon, with police responding to the 1400 block of East Cold Spring Lane, near Hip Hop Fish and Chicken and just west of Loch Raven Boulevard, at about 4:41 p.m. Police had not said whether the shooting was targeted, and no arrest was announced in the early response.

CBS Baltimore identified the victims as two 24-year-olds and one 25-year-old. All three were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and were listed in stable condition. The scene was in a shopping-center corridor used for daily errands, work, and pass-through traffic, making the shooting a public-safety concern well beyond the three people struck.

Police temporarily shut down East Cold Spring Lane in both directions while officers worked the scene. A local summary said investigators found more than 30 large-caliber shell casings at the strip mall, pointing to a rapid exchange of gunfire in a busy retail area. Baltimore police asked anyone with information to contact Northeast District Shooting Detectives or Metro Crime Stoppers.

The location adds to the gravity of the case for Northeast Baltimore. The Coldspring Shopping Center sits near Morgan State University and the New Northwood neighborhood, drawing students, residents, workers, and shoppers through the corridor throughout the day. Morgan State says its college moved to its present northeast Baltimore site in 1917, while Maryland history markers identify Morgan Park as Baltimore’s first planned Black suburb, giving the surrounding area a long civic history tied to growth, housing, and neighborhood identity.

For people who use East Cold Spring Lane, the shooting cut into a stretch of the city that functions as both a neighborhood street and a commercial artery. The combination of a retail strip, a university nearby, and a densely used roadway makes the block a place where a burst of violence quickly affects customers, store employees, and nearby residents. As investigators continue to piece together what happened, the unanswered questions remain the ones that matter most to the people who live and shop there: who fired the shots, why it happened, and whether the corridor is safe.