This year, seven Baltimore City students have been killed by gun violence. One of the most recent is 16-year-old Izaiah Carter.
Two weeks ago, Carter was gunned down just blocks from his high school. Police say the gunman was recently caught in Southern Texas as he was attempting to escape the country. They're now in the process of extraditing 23-year-old Roger Alvarado-Mendoza back to Baltimore.
Wednesday morning, the case was the topic of discussion on WBAL radio on the C4 and Bryan Nehman show.
"Something is going on at that school. They can say what they want; something is going on at that school," said C4.
Speaking with Sgt. Clyde Boatwright with the Baltimore City School's Police force, C4 and Nehman questioned what led up to the shooting just outside Patterson High School.
"Is there an ongoing problem between Hispanic students there and Black students?" C4 asked. "Because that’s the real concern at that particular school."
"I’ll say to the degree that I know or can share, I don’t know what the motive is in this case. However, I'm looking at some of the things that have been said publicly by other leaders," replied Boatwright. "It’s concerning that you have a 23-year-old adult male that is in close proximity of a school and he’s on with a handgun and there are teenage kids in an altercation, whether it was physical or verbal, and one of them ends up shot and killed."
Boatwright is also concerned with the number of students coming and going from city schools in the middle of the day without permission. So far this year, at least two students have been shot and killed during school hours just blocks from school grounds.
However, according to Boatwright, "Walking out of school or cutting class or something like that. That's an administrative violation," he said.
When asked what the punishment for leaving class is, he replied, "As school police, we are completely, completely removed from the discipline process. So, we don’t even know if it’s a one-day suspension or a two day suspension. We just don’t know," he said.
FOX 45 sent questions to Baltimore City Public Schools asking:
- Is gang affiliation or racially charged disputes an ongoing problem between students at Patterson High School?
- If that problem is ongoing, what is the school doing to prevent further violence between students?
- How can school police officers know when a student should or shouldn’t be on school grounds if they’re removed from the discipline process?
BCPS responded with the following:
"Following an altercation involving a group of students at Patterson High School, the school took several steps, including:
- Holding parent or guardian conferences for parents and guardians of students who were involved
- Working with multiple Community organizations
- Creating two new mentoring programs
- Providing conflict mediation support for parents, guardians, and students
- Revisiting the Code of Conduct with students
Student discipline is handled by the school, not City Schools Police. Our police enforce the law, but they have no oversight of student disciplinary matters; they are not security guards. If an individual barred from a campus attempts to enter, that process is managed by the school directly. School police are available to assist if the matter escalates."