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A pair of Baltimore residents found themselves confronted by a line of riot police during the unrest after Freddie Gray’s death. Photos by Byron Smith
After Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore resident, died on April 19 from a severed spinal cord suffered a week earlier following his arrest by police, protests and rioting rocked the Mid-Atlantic city. A number of buildings, including a large CVS store, and more than 100 cars were torched in several neighborhoods. The National Guard was called in, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania also sent police. A curfew was imposed and the public was barred from Baltimore Orioles baseball games. Gray’s was the latest in a string of deaths of unarmed black men while being arrested or in police custody which have fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.
Firefighters battled blazes in residential buildings during the rioting.A phalanx of Baltimore police, sporting plexiglas shields, leg guards and extra-long clubs, held a line on the streets during the turmoil.On Mon., April 26, protesters faced off with police after the 10 p.m. curfew during the second day of riots following Gray’s funeral.Connor Wolf, a reporter from the Daily Caller, received aid from fellow reporters after he was slugged in the face by a rioter on the first night of the violence in Baltimore.On Tues., April 27, a youth tried to restrain a girl who had been involved in a minor scuffle that had been broken up around the corner from where police were holding a line.
Protesters rejoiced on Fri., May 1, hours after charges were brought against six Baltimore police officers in Gray’s death.
