In the midst of a violence-filled two weeks , Mayor Sheila Dixon made an appearance last night at the Southwestern District's Police Community Relations Council . She noted that the city is posting crime numbers comparible to lows three decades ago, but also lamented a spate of killings -- 13 slayings in the past 10 days -- that has claimed the lives of two teen-agers and a pizza delivery man, who was shot in Southwest Baltimore. In the same district, four people were shot Monday night when a gunman burst into a home. Earlier this year, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III ousted the commander of the Southwestern after a spike in crime. It is also where Dixon lives. My colleague, police reporter Justin Fenton, was there. "Baltimore is in the midst of its worst stretch of violence in a long time," Dixon told the residents. It disturbs me the same way it disturbs you. Some of the cases, even if we had a police officer on every corner, we still wouldn't be able to solve what happened." Residents praised Dixon and Southwest District Maj. Anthony Brown, who said police have strong leads in the shooting death of the pizza delivery driver, 22-year-old Adama Diara. The city has recorded 207 homicides so far this year, down about 25 percent from the same period last year. Dixon said she would push stronger gun laws during the next legislative session in Annapolis to eliminate early prison release credits for criminals who commit g ...
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