Tension between biker group, Oliver residents boils over after Sunday shooting that killed 1, injured 7
Residents of Oliver believed they had come to an understanding with a group of bikers who regularly met near a small park at the center of the East Baltimore neighborhood.
But those tensions were front and center again this week as police investigate motorcycle club members’ connection to a Sunday shooting near their hangout that injured seven people and left another man dead.
Neighbors, some of whom declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said the gunshots rang out during a confrontation between two groups — a collection of bikers and a group of people playing basketball at Calvin B. Scruggs Sr. Park.
Both the motorcyclists and the basketball players were a common presence in the area behind Dr. Bernard Harris, Sr., Elementary School, though sometimes to the ire of neighbors. Residents noted that some activities around the park’s basketball courts, held by both bikers and other groups, would get rowdy.
A door to a garage on the 1300 block of North Spring Street, a narrow road that residents said served as a regular hangout for bikers, was tagged with “PRIVATE MEMBER’S [sic] ONLY” in stenciled letters and bore a “1%” sticker commonly used by motorcycle clubs. Baltimore housing officials issued a citation to the property owner in May, alleging that a motorcycle transport company was operating in the garage without a permit. The landlord, the transport company and two other people affiliated with the biker group did not return multiple requests for comment.
Leaders of the People’s Association of Oliver Community, Inc. said Oliver residents raised concerns earlier this year about bikers using the park and nearby spaces. Residents, who meet monthly, were concerned about parking, the condition of the park and loud noise, sometimes late into the evening.
City 911 call data shows that police had responded to a handful of noise complaints, disorderly conduct reports and other disturbances in the block, which bikers referred to on social media as “The Alley.” A database of 311 customer service requests shows several complaints since the start of the year tied to the block for concerns like poor sanitation, illegal dumping and parking issues.
The community association met with the motorcycle group in February to relay those concerns, urging them to “be respectful” of the community, said People’s Association of Oliver Community President Diane Williams.
“They seemed to agree,” Williams said, and for a time, the issues died down.
She and Audrey Carter, also with the community association, heard within the past two weeks that the motorcycle group had returned. Williams noted, though, that they would not have anticipated any violence, based on the past conflict.
“I wouldn’t have taken these guys, the motorcycle group, to be the most aggressive ones,” Williams said. “Unless somebody was just angry that day. Somebody had to be angry that day for that to take place.”
Police haven’t provided much detail on what transpired Sunday night, though they noted earlier this week they were probing the involvement of a biker group. Officers found multiple guns at the scene, and believe multiple people fired, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Sunday night.
Flyers that circulated on social media showed that the bikers were there for a vigil honoring a fellow motorcyclist, Kelroy “Nephew” Bourne, who had died Aug. 10 after police say he crashed into a parked vehicle in Southwest Baltimore. Some of the people injured by gunfire that night — including Anthony Martin, the 36-year-old who died — were there to play basketball, according to people who knew them. Martin’s father, of the same name, declined to comment Wednesday, citing his grief.
The basketball game was a weekly occurrence held between friends, said Tim Cooley, whose friend’s daughter — part of that group — was injured by Sunday’s gunfire.
The city’s 911 data shows two noise complaints and a disorderly conduct report came through roughly an hour before the first reports of a shooting. A police spokesperson said that an officer responded, but was unable to locate the source of the noise.
Carter stopped by the park on Sunday and saw “quite a number” of people. She estimated the motorcycle group numbered around 40, and said there were about 20 or 30 other people gathered on the basketball courts.
From afar, Carter said, it may have appeared as one large group, but closer, the groups were distinguishable. The motorcycle group wore jackets, for one.
Williams said the neighborhood now is “in an uproar” and wants to see the motorcycle group removed from the area. The community association is holding an emergency meeting about the shooting on Thursday evening, but she and Carter noted that removing the group could take some legal work or other steps, adding that “if that’s the case that they’ve been an issue over the years, then we’re looking for the city to help us go through the legal process of doing it.”
Carter and Williams called this an “isolated incident” for Oliver, which residents described as a mostly peaceful neighborhood. When issues have flared up at the park in the past, there are often young people who step in to de-escalate conflict, Williams said.
It had been several years since there were any shootings near the park, according to Williams.
“This is not what Oliver’s known for,” Carter said. “We are relational. We are supportive. And we care about one another.”