The day after he allegedly killed a motorist at an intersection near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, one of the city’s numberless “squeegee workers” turned 15. A week later he was arrested and charged as an adult with first-degree murder. In this tragic story there is much to learn about America’s ideological divide and political dysfunction, and how these forces are accelerating the decline of some of its once-great cities.
The victim in this case—48-year-old Timothy Reynolds—has been criticized for provoking the incident. Available video does not show what led up to Reynolds’s ill-fated decision to park his car and emerge with a baseball bat, or his initial approach to the squeegee crew. According to Baltimore Banner reporter Justin Fenton, the video “picks up with Reynolds walking away from the intersection. As he walks away, he points the bat at three squeegee workers, who are following him from about 20 feet away.” After momentarily disappearing from view, “the squeegee workers ‘seemingly surround him.’” Then, “Reynolds can be seen swinging the bat while running towards them. One squeegee worker appears to strike Reynolds in the head while Reynolds has the bat raised toward another worker. Three seconds later, that person pulled out a gun and started firing at Reynolds. One shot can be heard followed by four more in succession.”
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