Moore on Salisbury mass shooting: ‘It is unacceptable and it’s infuriating’

Gov. Wes Moore (D) and other state officials expressed anger and frustration Wednesday following the death of an Eastern Shore teen during the second mass shooting incident in the state in three days.

“We all have to do more,” the governor told reporters following Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting. “This is not sustainable. It is unacceptable and it’s infuriating. We should not be spending our time dealing with these kinds of issues that we as a state have been dealing with for far too long and have not come up with the right kinds of solutions for.”

Seven people were shot in Salisbury just after midnight Wednesday at a neighborhood block party, according to the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.

A 14-year-old boy, Xavier Cordei Maddox of Salisbury, died of his wounds at an area hospital. Six others were being treated for what the agency described as non-life-threatening wounds.

“Our community is too good to have to continue to have to deal with this. Our children deserve so much more than this,” said Moore.

Moore missed the start of the Board of Public Works meeting to speak to Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano (R). In a statement Wednesday, Giordano said “Tragedies like this, especially those that involve the death of a child are inexcusable.”

Wednesday’s incident in Wicomico County was the third fatal mass shooting in the state in three weeks.

Moore traveled to Baltimore Tuesday to speak to families and community leaders following a mass shooting in the Brooklyn Homes.

The public housing complex was the scene of a shooting that left two people dead — Aaliaya Gonzalez, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20— and 28 more injured. Fifteen of those wounded are under the age of 17.

Moore, speaking Wednesday, said too many communities are becoming “synonymous with gun violence.”

“It’s not fair and it’s not right and it’s going to stop,” he said.

Last month, three people were killed and three others were injured in a mass shooting in an Annapolis neighborhood.

Charles Robert Smith, 43, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Nicholas Mireles, 55, his son Mario Alfredo Mireles, 27 and Christian Segovia, 25. He is also charged with offenses related to three other people who were shot following what police believe was a dispute over a blocked driveway.

“This has to stop but we all need to work together to make it stop,” Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) said at the start of the Board of Public Works meeting. “We have to heal our state and our communities. We just have to work together. I know the solutions don’t seem like they’re out there but they’re out there and we need to hear from everyone of you on how we can keep our young people safe and continue their full potential and their lives. They shouldn’t lose their lives so senselessly to gun violence.”

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