BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The families of two young people killed in the 2023 Brooklyn Homes mass shooting are suing the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, alleging the public agency failed to provide security that could have prevented the deaths. Four additional people who were wounded in the shooting have also filed lawsuits.
Gunfire erupted on July 2, 2023, during the annual Brooklyn Homes block party in the Brooklyn neighborhood of south Baltimore. Two people were killed and 28 others were injured; at least 15 of those hurt were minors. The two people killed were 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi and 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez.
The parents of Fagbemi and Gonzalez claim in their lawsuits that the housing authority was negligent because security could have stopped the event from happening, staffed the block party or notified law enforcement as the crowd grew out of control.
Kurt Nachtman, a Baltimore attorney and partner at Silverman Thompson who is not affiliated with the lawsuit, said successful lawsuits against government entities can be challenging.
“Suing a government entity is always difficult,” Nachtman said.
He also said the city has significant resources to defend itself.
“So, the city really has, I don’t want to call it an unlimited budget, but they have largely an unlimited budget to defend themselves, which is something very different than a private entity who may have to be paying an attorney out of pocket…So there’s always a question of, you know, are you going to be able to outlast the city’s attorneys,” Nachtman said.
After the shooting, a Baltimore Police Department after-action report noted that some officers appeared to give little thought to potential public safety concerns leading up to the moment gunfire erupted.
Aaliyah’s mother, Krystal Gonzalez, reviewed her copy of the report with FOX45 News when the report was released in August 2023. At the time, she questioned why the party was not shut down.
“I want to know why no one responded to shut down this party,” Gonzalez said.
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The report also highlighted that police knew about the event days before it happened, but at one point said they did not. Gonzalez said she did not believe that claim.
“The night my daughter was shot. That’s the same thing they said. The very first thing they said is, ‘we didn’t know about it until earlier today.’ And I said to my husband then, ‘they’re lying,’” she said.
Gonzalez also spoke about the loss of her daughter.
I nurtured her her entire life and I raised her great. I feel like we did a great job. I told my husband that before the shooting, I looked back after she graduated. I said, we did a good job babe,” she said.
“I don’t get to see her married. I don’t get to see her starting a family. I don’t get to see any of that. It’s so hard for me to understand that at 18 that it’s no more, that’s all you get,” she said.
The Housing Authority of Baltimore City said it has not been served with the lawsuits and, because there is pending litigation, it will not comment on the allegations, according to spokesperson Ingrid Antonio.
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