The top spokesman for Baltimore’s Police Department came across a dreadingly familiar name in his city’s growing list of homicide victims.
“When I saw his name come across, I just knew,” T.J. Smith, in tears, told reporters on Wednesday.
“Like any family member, you’re in denial. I remember when I called, I was hoping he’d answer, because … I was going to wherever he was to hug him. And I didn’t get a chance to do that.”
Smith’s 24-year-old brother, Dionay, was fatally shot in his apartment Sunday night. He was Baltimore’s 173rd homicide victim this year.
“To me and my family, he’s Dion, a brother, a son, a father, a friend, a nephew, and a kind soul,” Smith wrote on his Facebook page.
Police have released surveillance video showing two men entering Dionay Smith’s home in hopes of receiving information leading to the killer.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said there has been “significant progress” in the investigation, CNN affiliate WBAL-TV reported.
‘A very kind heart’
The motive for the shooting is unknown but Smith believes his brother probably knew the shooter. No arrest has been made.
“My brother had a very kind heart,” he said. “It appears that someone he knows, that he probably was kind to, took advantage of him.”
Dionay Smith worked two jobs, according to his brother. He volunteered at a community program for children.
“Now this might sound like a cliche, but it is true — my brother was a good kid,” Smith wrote. “He wasn’t ‘about that life.'”
In response to the city’s increasing homicide rate, Davis last month instituted mandatory 12-hour work shifts for all police officers.
In an editorial, the Baltimore Sun in June decried the “crushing pace of homicides.”
“What we are experiencing is not a blip but evidence of a breakdown in the social order that has only accelerated in the two years since the riots sparked by Freddie Gray’s death,” the editorial said.
Gray suffered a fatal spine injury while being transported in a police van in 2015. His death became a symbol of the black community’s mistrust of police and triggered days of protest and riots.
Since then, 341 homicides were reported in 2015; there were 318 homicides last year.
‘Enough with the hashtags’
Makeshift memorials consisting of melting candles and flowers to mark shooting scenes have become familiar sights in some neighborhoods.
“Enough with the hashtags and the RIPs and the balloons and the vigils and the T-shirts,” Smith said Wednesday.
“Let’s stop. He’s going have his moment of T-shirts, moment of RIP, moment of Instagram hasthags and all and then we move onto to the next person until we stop. It’s up to the guys on the street to say, ‘Enough is enough.'”
Smith said he had spoken with his brother last week. His brother’s twins have the same birthday as Smith’s son.
“I’m not angry, I’m upset,” Smith said.
“I’m upset that he is not going to have a life to lead. … I know my brother looked up to me. I know he loved me a lot. I know he wanted to make me proud.”
As the face of Baltimore’s troubled police department, Smith is no stranger to death and destruction. His family is no more deserving of attention, he said, than others who share similar misfortune
“For the last couple of years, I’ve notified the public of many tragedies, mostly death, specifically homicide,” Smith wrote.
“I’ve been on crime scenes and heard the wails of family members when they discover it’s their loved one who is deceased. … Every name of every victim is sent to me and other commanders immediately. On Sunday evening, one of the names that came to me was way too familiar.”