“Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who — in a very senseless way — are trying to tear down what so many have fought for,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.
Buildings and cars across the city were engulfed in flames. About a dozen businesses looted or damaged. At least 15 officers were wounded, six of them seriously, the police commissioner said.
Late Monday night, CNN crews saw looters breaking in through the roof of a Baltimore liquor store. They were tossing bottles and cans of alcohol onto the street below.
All this came just hours after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody.
Gray’s family denounced the violence.
“I want y’all to get justice for my son, but don’t do it like this here,” his mother told journalists.
Gray’s twin sister, Fredericka, said she couldn’t understand the riots.
“I don’t think that’s for Freddie,” she said. “I think the violence is wrong.”
The destruction was so bad that children can’t go to school Tuesday.
Officers seriously injured
Six Baltimore police officers were seriously injured in Monday’s violence, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said. He said many of the instigators appeared to be high school students.
“I think they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at police,” Batts said.
Video showed police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle as assailants pelted them with rocks.
More than two dozen people have already been arrested, Baltimore police Col. Darryl D. DeSousa said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries among the rioters.
Senior center engulfed in flames
An enormous fire broke out at affordable housing center for seniors. It was just months away from opening.
Pastor Donte Hickman of the Southern Baptist Church, which owns the facility, said 60 units of senior housing were lost.
The mayor said it’s not clear whether the fire was related to riots, as the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Regardless, the loss has been devastating.
“My eyes have been filled with tears,” Hickman said. “Someone didn’t understand that we exist in the community to help revitalize it.”
State of emergency declared
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. The mayor of Baltimore said every possible resource was being deployed to “gain control of this situation.”
Rawlings-Blake said the city will impose a mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, effective for one week starting Tuesday night.
She stressed that the city already has a mandatory curfew for young people — 9 p.m. ET for children under 14, while teenagers 14-16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. ET on school nights.
