She attributes that, at least in part, to the work of Safe Streets violence interrupters, the workers clad in orange T-shirts who mediate conflicts and who Jacobs said “are recognized almost like superheroes around here.”

Three of Baltimore’s 10 Safe Streets sites recently marked a year without a homicide in their “catchment zone,” the city’s term for the sites’ boundaries. Streaks continue in two of the three, Belvedere and Park Heights, which have not experienced a homicide since June 27 and July 30 of last year, respectively. The third, Franklin Square, went more than a year between killings until an early morning July 4 fatal shooting.

For Jacobs, owner of the R.V.A. Project, an event planning and life coaching business, “it means I can go outside more,” she said Friday at a celebration held at the Belvedere site, along Park Heights Avenue.

“You can feel the presence of organizations like Safe Streets that’s within the community. It makes a difference,” Jacobs said. “It’s nice to know that somebody is doing something — and not just doing something, but they’re doing it hands-on.”

Safe Streets is the city’s flagship violence intervention initiative, centered on the concept of “violence interrupters” tasked with intervening in and mediating conflicts. Those interrupters, and all site staff, have credibility within their communities and the lived experiences to back up intervention efforts, officials say. Sites are scattered around Baltimore, making up 2.6 square miles of the city’s total 90 square miles.

In March, a fourth site in Penn North celebrated its own milestone year without a homicide. It’s had two since then.

Mayor Brandon Scott has sought to strengthen Safe Streets during his time in office, pouring money into the program, boosting pay for workers and, recently, going on a hiring spree. His administration also condensed the number of site operators — the nonprofits or community-based organizations that directly staff, manage and run the sites — going from eight to two.

The program was further bolstered under his tenure by a Johns Hopkins University analysis funded by the city that found a roughly 20% drop in gun violence when a Safe Streets program enters a neighborhood.

Still, it has faced detractors who question its effectiveness and its cost, and have scrutinized its operations. The program has seen some staff members arrested in the past. Last year, a site director at Belair-Edison was arrested and charged with an illegal ammunition offense but those charges were dismissed in January.

At Friday’s celebration, Scott said the 365-day achievement was particularly personal for him as someone who grew up in Park Heights. He said he remembered when it felt like the area didn’t go two days without someone being shot.

Next to him, under a tent, a banner read “365 days, 0 homicides” and “Safe Streets, stop shooting, start living.”

The mayor was joined by staffers from all three sites, as well as other partner organizations within Scott’s community violence “ecosystem” and LifeBridge Health, which manages the three sites recognized Friday.

As to the program’s work, Scott said: “We know its value.”

The city spends about $7 million a year, partly funded by grants, on its Safe Streets program. The Hopkins analysis found that the gun violence reductions created by Safe Streets meant that for every $1 invested, there were roughly $7.20 to $19.20 in “social and economic benefits.”

This year, Baltimore is seeing a decline in shootings, both fatal and nonfatal, on the heels of a year when it saw a double-digit reduction in homicides and fell under 300 killings in one year for the first time since before 2015. As of Friday, there have been 135 homicides and 282 shootings, compared to 191 homicides and 447 shootings during the same time period in 2023. Those constitute 29.3% and 36.5% year-over-year decreases, respectively.

Emanuel Tarrant-Bey, the site director for Belvedere, attributed Safe Streets’ successes to the relationships workers have in the communities they serve.

He pointed to a recent conflict he mediated, a physical fight where one person had a knife. Had he not had some respect among residents, and from the people involved, it would have been “highly likely” he would have gotten hurt when he intervened, Tarrant-Bey said.

Instead, Tarrant-Bey got in between the two parties, separated them and made sure they came to a mutual understanding, he said.

Even as site director, Tarrant-Bey said, he’s often out in the community. Trust is not built sitting in an office, he said, and all Safe Streets workers are violence interrupters.

Each of the three sites had some nonfatal shootings during the periods without homicides. Two of the three have had homicides within a several block radius of the site boundaries, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis using police crime data and Safe Streets boundaries provided by the city.

The Franklin Square site, which went more than 365 days without a homicide between June 26, 2023, and July 3, 2024, had one nonfatal shooting in July 2023 and at least three that fell within a block of its boundaries during that time.

Park Heights, which had its last homicide on July 30 last year, saw two shootings in its boundaries since then, in October and December of last year. There were two others near its boundaries since July 30, 2023. There was also a Dec. 29 homicide within two blocks of the Park Heights site’s boundary, across Reisterstown Road, that left a 17-year-old named David Hamilton dead.

And, lastly, Belvedere, which last had a killing on June 27 last year, has had five shootings in its boundaries since then, including as recently as Sept. 3. There were two other nonfatal shootings near its boundaries, as well as a July 29 homicide within two blocks, across West Belvedere Avenue. That shooting killed 33-year-old Carl Anthony, along Saint Charles Avenue.

That majority preference persisted among Democrats, Republicans, white respondents, Black respondents and each age group — and remain largely unchanged from last year.

The poll results, released this week, come as juvenile justice reform remains a hot topic in Maryland, and on the heels of some changes approved in the spring legislative session. The poll question did not delve into specifics about state laws or policies, however, and some questioned whether its framing sufficiently captured the nature of ongoing debates.

“The question posits a choice between harshness and leniency that makes reformers and researchers look like clowns. Everyone believes in accountability. The question is how best to achieve it,” said Josh Rovner, the director of youth justice at The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group seeking a more equitable criminal justice system.

Rovner said it would be a legitimate public policy question to ask voters or residents whether they think the justice system is too lenient or too harsh and whether it is effective or ineffective. But the most “essential” question, he said, would be whether policies and programs in place actually work.

“If we care about public safety, we should care about what works, not about what one’s gut instinct says should work,” Rovner said.

Others cheered the poll’s finding, saying it confirmed what residents have said since the pandemic. Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, who helped lead the charge for reforms in the spring, said the results “echo what I hear in every corner of our city.”

“Now more than ever, residents have been touched by crime. It may not be a violent crime, but they’ve been robbed or had their car stolen, or their neighbor or someone else they know has,” Bates said in an email. “In many of these instances, the culprits were either juveniles or identified as juveniles, leaving the victims with little to no information and even less recourse.”

Bates said he was dedicated to striking “the right balance” between ensuring accountability for young people, ensuring they receive resources to “become productive members of our city” and ensuring justice for any victims.

Patrick E. Gonzales, with Gonzales Research & Media Services, did not respond to a request Thursday for comment about the criticisms of the question. He also did not say whether he had been paid by any entity to pose the question. Gonzales Research has a long history of regular polling in Maryland, and estimates having polled and analyzed thousands of elections here and across the country over the past 40 years.

The juvenile justice system in the country is similar in some ways to the adult criminal system but operates under the guiding principle that youth are different from adults. The juvenile system seeks to rehabilitate young people, offering “treatment” as a standard part of the conclusion of charges and seeking to help them avoid future delinquency.

The Maryland General Assembly, earlier this year, passed a sweeping bill aimed at the juvenile system. Among other things, the bill requires clearer communication with police and prosecutors by the state’s Department of Juvenile Services, creates new services for young children accused of car theft and codifies a state program called Thrive that seeks to help youth most likely of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence.

The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore despite a call for him to veto it, also expands the charges a child who is between 10 and 12 years old can face. Those charges now include some firearms offenses, aggravated animal cruelty and third-degree sex offenses, in addition to the preexisting crimes of violence.

The poll question asked by Gonzales Research did not delve into those recent reforms or specific aspects of existing juvenile justice law. It asked respondents whether they preferred “strict” laws, like detention and boot camps that hold “individuals responsible and accountable for their behavior” or “lenient” ones, including social programs and counseling, that recognize “society is responsible for much of this behavior.”

Maryland’s boot camps for juveniles were closed in 1999 because guards were beating teens, some while they were handcuffed and shackled; the state in 2001 paid out more than $4 million to 900 of those young people. The National Institute of Justice, a part of the U.S. Department of Justice, rates juvenile boot camps as having “no effects” on the likelihood of participants’ recidivism.

Meanwhile, Maryland’s system regularly detains young people — and commits them, the term for when someone is held after the conclusion of their delinquency matter.

In fiscal year 2023, the most recent for which data is available, the average daily population in youth detention in Maryland was 212 young people, a figure that includes youth charged as adults.

Of the 588 young people who were detained before the disposition of their cases in fiscal year 2023, nearly 47% were assessed as “low-risk.” The state agency reported 90.2% of those detained before their case dispositions were youth of color.

In the same time period, the average daily population in committed residential facilities was 139 people.

Maryland’s system also regularly employs counseling, like systems across the country. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been found to effectively reduce aggression in young people, and multisystemic therapy reduces recidivism, according to the National Institute of Justice.

The Department of Juvenile Services declined to comment on the poll. The agency, under Secretary Vincent Schiraldi, defines its mission as transforming young people’s lives, creating safer communities and forming more equitable systems. It strives to, with community-based partners, “hold youth accountable while building on their strengths and support systems.”

Rovner said the definition of a harsh system should be about how often youth are detained or committed and how often they are charged as if they are adults, not whether they are detained or committed at all.

Under that framework, Maryland would be viewed as harsh in sending young people to the adult system based on the alleged offense. There are 33 charges that, under state law, automatically send kids to the adult system, Rovner said, and “in no way is that typical.”

A separate nationwide poll released in December found Americans were evenly split on whether teens who commit violence should be treated the same as adults or given more “lenient” treatment in juvenile courts. That Gallup poll’s 46-47 split, respectively, marked a shift from two decades ago when 65% thought teen offenders should be treated like they were adults.

The Maryland poll by Gonzales was delivered to 820 likely Maryland voters from Aug. 24 through Aug. 30. It found a jump in approval ratings for Moore and Vice President Kamala Harris and a lead for Democrat Angela Alsobrooks over Republican Larry Hogan in their race for the U.S. Senate.

In the poll’s appendix, responses to the juvenile justice question were further broken out by demographics. Republicans favored “strict” laws at an 82.2% rate, while Democrats did at a 51.7% rate. Of those, Black Democrats favored “strict” laws at a 63% rate, while white Democrats did at a 35.3% rate.

The poll also highlighted differences within the population of Black respondents. Of the 247-person pool, 79.1% of Black men favored “strict” laws, while 53.2% of Black women did. In the same pool, 19.8% of Black men favored “lenient” laws, compared to 46.8% of Black women. (The same breakdown by race and gender was not provided for white respondents.)

Geographically, the Washington, D.C., suburbs were the least supportive of “strict” laws and the most supportive of “lenient” laws. In Baltimore City, 67.2% of respondents favored “strict” and 28.4% favored “lenient.”

Heather Warnken, executive director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said it’s important to phrase poll questions in a way that results in data that informs conversations in a meaningful way.

Here, she said, the wording “absolutely” could have been leading, by pitting “strict” laws against “lenient” ones — and she cautioned there could be harm in conflating “strict” laws with effective ones, without first reviewing years’ worth of research about effective strategies.

“I think it’s really important that we’re hearing loud and clear from polls like this that people want public safety to be taken seriously, and they want solutions that are effective,” Warnken said. “That’s not the same thing as making them strict or punitive.”

Bates, in his email response to questions, said young people pose a “unique challenge” within the justice system. Accountability for young people, he said, doesn’t only mean incarceration.

“It also involves offering these young offenders a path to rehabilitation through DJS programming,” Bates said. “Ultimately, my focus is and will always be on the trauma inflicted upon our communities and the victims of crime in Baltimore, ensuring they receive the justice, care, and respect they deserve.”

Maryland’s juvenile justice laws are a “work in progress,” Bates said. He argued recent changes need to be “adeqeuately assessed” over time, before any “necessary adjustments.”

Relatives and friends were invited to attend visiting hours from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Vida Real Internacional Church in Somerville, Massachusetts. The funeral service at the church Friday, however, is private. She will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts, just north of Boston.

“Andrea was incredibly intelligent and brilliant; her intelligence was matched only by her kindness and compassion. She approached life with a warmth and grace that touched the hearts of many,” the obituary said. “Her eagerness to learn, her generous spirit, and her unwavering dedication to helping others exemplified the love of Christ in all that she did.”

Avila, who was remembered at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday at the Community College of Baltimore County, was killed on Aug. 26 in what officials say was a murder-suicide. She was found dead in her dorm room at Rice University, the school she attended following her 2023 graduation from CCBC.

Also a graduate of Perry Hall High School, she is survived by her parents, of Nottingham in eastern Baltimore County. She also was a “dear sister” to two siblings, a “cherished granddaughter” and an “adoring great granddaughter,” the obituary said.

Rice University officials have said the junior was pre-law and majoring in political science. A statement from her family released last week said she dreamed of working for the United Nations.

Her family asked in the statement that fellow students and friends celebrate her memory by caring for others.

James Bentley, a spokesman for State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, said the office had reviewed the case and will not be proceeding with any charges against the man who was arrested, Jaemaun Joyner, or the officers involved.

Bates had a conflict in the case and was not part of that decision, Bentley said. The state’s attorney previously worked with Tony Garcia, one of Joyner’s attorneys.

Joyner already had seen his charges dismissed in July, shortly after his attorneys received body camera footage of that arrest. Prosecutors at that time told The Baltimore Sun they were dismissed for “further investigation” and said the matter was “currently under review” when asked about officer actions during the arrest.

In the footage, which Joyner’s attorneys shared with The Baltimore Sun, four police officers tackle him to the ground when he attempts to flee from being handcuffed. While on the ground, officers restrain him by holding his arms, putting their hands on his neck and a knee on his sternum. Toward the end of the video, a fifth officer presses his firearm to Joyner’s head for more than five seconds.

Defense attorneys identified that officer as Detective Connor Johnson.

“To not charge this officer — it’s a shame. It’s wrong,” said Garcia, one of Joyner’s attorneys. “The officer put a gun to a man’s head, under the color of doing his job. To allow that to take place, without accountability, without consequence, gives a bad message to the citizens of Baltimore and to other officers who feel they can get away with brutalizing the citizens of Baltimore.”

It’s possible the officer and others on scene could still face internal discipline. A police department spokeswoman, Lindsey Eldridge, said in July there was an internal investigation and that no officers had been suspended; she said Thursday that was still the case.

Garcia said he had not been contacted by Baltimore Police investigators. He doesn’t believe investigators have interviewed any witnesses or Joyner himself.

“Obviously, his opinion is valueless,” Garcia said.

In July after Joyner’s attorneys shared the video publicly, Police Commissioner Richard Worley defended the officer’s actions, saying he was “out there doing his job” and suggesting the officer was fighting for his life.”

But attorneys for Joyner pushed back against that characterization, arguing it was “excessive” and “unacceptable.” In a July interview, Garcia held up a screenshot of the body camera footage, showing officers’ hands on Joyner’s stomach and throat, and a gun to his temple.

“I don’t see an officer fighting for his life,” he told The Sun. “I see an officer inflicting a mark of fear.”

In the aftermath of the footage’s release by Joyner’s attorneys, reactions varied.

Leaders of Baltimore’s Police Accountability Board called for the detective who pressed his firearm to Joyner’s temple to be suspended. The chair of the board, Joshua Harris, said he didn’t believe it would be part of an officer’s training to “point a gun at point-blank range at the temple of an already subdued subject.”

The police union representing Baltimore Police officers, however, pushed back against criticisms of the actions. Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Mancuso said in a statement that “until you are in a situation where you are fighting for your life I think it’s best not to second guess.”

“I have been in this very same position many times when the suspect was able to free their hand(s). Then it’s life and death as the cops and suspect fight for control of the gun,” he said.

Mancuso did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Ian Adams, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said officers are typically given “quite a bit” of discretion when there is a gun involved in a physical struggle.

He agreed that the officer pressing his weapon against Joyner’s temple looked aggressive and could prompt concerns about the possibility of an accidental discharge. But, he said, that proximity did give him the ability to “react quickly enough” if he needed to use it.

Ashley Heiberger, a retired police captain from Pennsylvania, who works as a consultant and expert witness specializing in use of force, meanwhile, said he understood why the community was angry about the video, but that officers in this circumstance may have been permitted to display the threat of deadly force.

The stipends, up to $250 per month and $3,000 annually, will be made available to 100 qualifying professional staff and sworn officers with children younger than 13 years old or who have special needs, according to the department.

Those who participate will have access to child care services “through a national network of childcare providers,” the police department said in a news release. That service also will provide access to “emergency” child care services for employees with nontraditional work hours and unanticipated scheduling changes.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Wednesday that the pilot will be a “game changer” for families who are selected to participate.

“We know, and I know, how financially difficult child care can be for families, and that goes double for families whose schedules are a bit more unpredictable than most, like many of the women and men that work in BPD,” Scott said.

The city’s Board of Estimates approved a $130,000 contract the department entered into for the pilot project in a vote on Wednesday morning.

The two-year contract with WeeCare Inc., also known as Upwards, is for case management, reporting of employees enrolled in the program and employee stipend management, according to Board of Estimates documents.

Police spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge said the total cost is estimated at $730,000, including the allowances for employees and management of the program. She said the cost would be covered by a Maryland grant called State Aid for Police Protection.

In its news release, the department called the pilot program an “important retention and recruitment tool.” The agency currently has 1,981 sworn officers and 549 sworn vacancies, as well as 508 professional personnel and 266 professional vacancies.

Scott added in a news conference following the Board of Estimates vote that the pilot program would only go toward 100 police employees to begin, but “it is our hope, that down the line we are able to expand this program not just through BPD, but looking at something throughout the City of Baltimore.”

He said there would be a “lottery system” in the police department to determine who is selected.

“My only question is, does the commander-in-chief, can I apply?” Scott joked.

He also stressed that the opportunity is available for both sworn and non-sworn police employees. The agency has increasingly hired non-police staff members, who they refer to as professional employees. Civilians have been hired as investigators, tasked with looking into low-level crimes, police misconduct complaints and cold cases.

In the department’s most recent budget, passed in June, the department sought to add 58 new civilian positions by cutting long-vacant sworn positions. It estimated that plan would lead to $1 million in overtime savings.

A competency evaluation determines whether a defendant is mentally fit to stand trial, by assessing whether he or she understands the nature of the legal proceedings and whether he or she can assist in their defense.

Joseph Goldman’s competency evaluation was a joint request by his attorney, Alisa Fornwald from the Office of the Public Defender, and the Baltimore County prosecutor at a bail review hearing for him Wednesday.

Fornwald said in court that she was requesting the evaluation based on conversations she had with her 43-year-old client and his mother. Fornwald declined to give further comment after the hearing. Goldman’s mother left the Baltimore County District Courthouse without speaking to the media.

Online court records show Goldman faces two felony theft charges and two misdemeanor trespassing offenses. The two felony theft charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Goldman’s trial date is scheduled for Oct. 16.

Police say in charging documents that he entered the aircraft Friday, which officials said was located in a restricted area of the Middle River airport, and turned the engine on. He was stopped, according to police documents, by the plane’s actual pilot.

The aircraft had been “left unattended” before Goldman was found. Police wrote in charging documents that he has an airline transport pilot license and knows how to fly a plane.

“Goldman was the sole occupant of the aircraft when he turned the engine on, giving him constructive control of the aircraft as he attempted to steal the aircraft and takeoff,” a state police officer wrote.

Goldman appeared in court by video from the county detention center. He asked the Baltimore County District Judge Krystin J. Richardson a few questions about what would happen next and what steps his attorney had taken, before Richardson told him the hearing was over and he would be held pending the competency evaluation.

No other new details came out during the hearing.

Goldman said Tuesday at an initial bail review that airport security let him into the part of the Martin State Airport where the plane’s pilot found him. He agreed to a postponed bail review because he didn’t yet have an attorney.

“I’d really like to go home,” Goldman said Tuesday. “These charges are a little bit steep.”

Goldman previously served in the U.S. Army as a military police officer, according to the military social network website Rally Point. In 2017, he was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for possessing unregistered firearms and making a firearm.

Defendants who are deemed not competent, in Maryland’s court system, are typically committed to a Maryland Department of Health psychiatric facility for treatment. They can be reevaluated for competency and undergo trial if and when they are found competent.

Some of those people, however, have been left to languish in Maryland’s jails because there is a chronic shortage of psychiatric bed space in the health department’s system. Officials have said there is a waitlist of close to 200 defendants — people with severe mental illness who are too sick to participate in their cases and who are considered dangerous.

The private jet is used by David Smith, who co-owns The Baltimore Sun and is executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, a company based in Hunt Valley that owns television stations including Baltimore’s FOX45.

The police charging documents identify the jet as a “G4,” a likely reference to a Gulfstream G-IV aircraft.

Federal Aviation Administration records show a 1994 G-IV plane registered in Baltimore City to AP Aviation LLC, care of Steven B. Fader. It is the only G-IV registered in Baltimore City or Baltimore or Harford counties. (Police wrote in the charging documents it was a 1984 plane, rather than 1994.)

Business records for AP Aviation LLC, which appears to have four private jets registered with the FAA, list Fader, of Atlantic Automotive Corp., as the principal officer. A February filing with the SEC lists the jet as one that Sinclair can lease by the hour. That same filing says the Sinclair rate is to remain the same regardless of whether the aircraft is used by “direct and indirect owners of Atlantic Automotive Group, Inc., Executive Flight Solutions LLC (i.e. S&F Aviation, LLC and Steven B. Fader and Davis D. Smith), and all third-party charters.”

Atlantic Automotive does business as MileOne Autogroup, an automotive retail group that Fader runs as CEO. Smith is a board member of MileOne AutoGroup Inc. and “the majority of its direct and indirect subsidiaries,” according to a corporate governance biography on Sinclair’s website.

FlightAware, a flight tracking website, shows the G-IV aircraft has made recent trips to Portland, Maine, and Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado.

On Friday, the day Goldman is accused of improperly entering the aircraft, the plane left Martin State Airport at 4:47 p.m. and arrived in Maine shortly before 6 p.m., the website shows.

Baltimore Sun reporter Lorraine Mirabella contributed to this article.

The speaker, Adrianne Washington, dean of special academic programs at the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, said she’d sat with that for a few days and come to the realization that it was important to focus on how Avila, who she called “one of our brightest stars,” had lived.

“She was dynamic, and she contributed significantly to our community. While she may not be alive in the literal sense, the best of her lives within each of us every day,” Washington said.

Avila, a recent graduate of the CCBC Essex campus, was found dead on Aug. 26 in her Rice University dorm room. Both she and a 22-year-old man with her were found shot. The local medical examiner’s office in Houston last week ruled her death a homicide and the man’s a suicide.

But on Tuesday, as dusk fell, her classmates, professors and mentors chose to remember her time with them, rather than how her life ended. More than 70 people — more people than there were chairs set out — gathered to share memories in Avila’s honor. Her uncle, Manuel Albornoz, said the attendees together were a testament to who she was, the person that “we knew and loved.”

Classmates remembered how welcoming she was, drawing them outside of their shells. A few described meeting her at low points in their own lives, only for her to create with them lasting friendships. Professors and mentors shared that they’d learned from her, even as she learned from them.

Andrew Rusnak, an English professor of Avila’s, read from a letter of recommendation he’d written as she applied to colleges. She had thoughtful contributions in class, he wrote. She was well-respected, diplomatic and courteous. It was clear, he added, that her advocacy ran deep. Avila held leadership positions, excelled academically and had even recently submitted a piece on Afrofuturism to a publisher and had it accepted, as a college sophomore.

“I know everyone is experiencing great loss, none more than the family, but I think about what the world lost,” Rusnak said. “The world lost someone who could truly change the world. We don’t see that much. But Andrea had that capability. For that, we will surely miss her and everything she could have done.”

The community college has described Avila, who lived in eastern Baltimore County, as a “passionate leader, an exceptional scholar and a mentor to many.” At the vigil, CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis announced two $1,000 scholarships in Avila’s memory that will be given to honor students this year.

After the speeches, friends of Avila passed out candles to attendees for a moment of reflection. The candles flickered through the rows of people seated, and those standing behind, some embracing. Before them, on either side of a podium, one table invited attendees to write letters to Avila’s family. The other featured a posterboard with a collage of photos. At the center, candles flanked a photo of her smiling.

Marina Deka, a CCBC student who attended the vigil, described Avila as a role model to her and others at the Essex campus. The two met in a mentorship program, where Avila was serving as a senior mentor, advising the others. She had a warm presence, Deka said before the vigil, and was outgoing.

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to help others the same way she had or maintain a positive attitude like she showed me,” Deka said. “She was a great influence on me.”

Aether Luces, who followed Avila as the president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, said they last saw her over the summer, after Avila completed her first year at Rice University. They remembered her being excited about their recent graduation and next steps.

Luces, now a student at Goucher College, said they learned a lot from Avila about how to balance being dedicated to school and also enjoying life and friends.

Rice University officials previously said she was majoring in political science and was pre-law. She transferred to the school after graduating from the Community College of Baltimore County and Perry Hall High School.

The college student’s family remembered her, in a statement released through Rice University, as someone who impressed everyone she met with her “independence and sweet spirit.”

The statement said she attended Rice to “accomplish her dreams of helping others and changing the world through her career goal of working for the United Nations.” It added that she was born in Honduras, lived in both Spain and Maryland and spoke multiple languages.

Her family said it hoped the “tragedy of her death” could be used to “make a difference.”

“As someone who helped others, we ask that her fellow students and friends help celebrate her memory by caring for others,” it said. “As grieving parents, we ask other parents to keep communicating with your children about all relationships and pay close attention to all concerns.”

Vigil for Andrea Rodriguez Avila | PHOTOS

In a statement released through the Houston school, Andrea Rodriguez Avila’s family said it was devastated by the loss of a daughter, big sister, niece, cousin and friend. The statement said Avila, 21, worked hard to transition from the Community College of Baltimore County to Rice and that she dreamed of working for the United Nations.

“She was a loving, caring, humble and intelligent gift to the world who made everyone feel special,” the family’s statement said. “Andrea came to Rice to accomplish her dreams of helping others and changing the world through her career goal of working for the United Nations. Born in Honduras, she lived in Spain and Maryland, where she immersed herself in school activities, spoke multiple languages and was recognized with many awards.”

The statement added that her family wants the “tragedy of her death” to “make a difference.”

“As someone who helped others, we ask that her fellow students and friends help celebrate her memory by caring for others. As grieving parents, we ask other parents to keep communicating with your children about all relationships and pay close attention to all concerns,” it said.

Officials in Houston have said police found Avila and a 22-year-old man dead in her dorm room, both suffering from gunshot wounds. Authorities entered her room after a request for a welfare check was called in and after she missed at least one class Monday. The Houston Police Department said earlier this week that the two were in a “dating relationship,” but Avila’s family said they “strongly disagreed” with that characterization in their statement, writing that “her precious life was lost to horrific violence at the hands of one man who is solely responsible.”

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, the local medical examiner’s office, said Thursday that Avila’s death had been classified as a homicide by multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a suicide by gunshot wound of the head, the officials said.

It’s expected that there won’t be any arrests made in the murder-suicide, but Houston Police said its investigation would remain open in case there is new information.

Rice University officials previously said Avila was majoring in political science and was pre-law. At the school, she served as deputy parliamentarian for the Rice Student Association, as a peer academic advisor and as a member of the school’s Honor Council.

She previously lived in Nottingham in eastern Baltimore County and graduated from Perry Hall High School. At the Community College of Baltimore County, she was involved in a mentor program, an honors society and the multicultural students association.

The community college remembered her as a “beloved member of the CCBC Class of 2023.”

“Andrea was a passionate leader, an exceptional scholar, and a mentor to many,” said Hope H. Davis, CCBC’s spokeswoman. “Her infectious smile and unwavering determination inspired all who knew her.”

The school is planning a candlelight vigil for her at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the school’s Essex Campus. An Instagram post about the event said it would be a gathering “to remember, share memories and draw strength as a community.”

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The property at 1301 N. Spring St. was issued a vacant notice Wednesday, a city database reflects. According to that notice, an inspector found it was “unfit for human habitation or other authorized use.” It orders the building owner to secure accessible openings, remove trash and debris and rehabilitate or raze the structure within 30 days.

In effect, the notice prevents the motorcycle club that used the site as a gathering space from continuing to do so.

“You can’t occupy a vacant property without a Use Permit and if someone attempts to reoccupy the property before a permit is issued, we have separate enforcement actions for that,” said Tammy D. Hawley, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

This latest development for the warehouse comes after the structure caught fire on the evening of Aug. 21, three days after a mass shooting in the area on Aug. 18 left eight people wounded, one fatally.

The Baltimore Police major who oversees the Eastern District told residents at a meeting last week, the day after the fire, that police believe the shooting broke out around 8 p.m. on Aug. 18 in the garage used by a motorcycle group, then spilled out onto North Spring Street.

Major Jai Etwaroo said police recovered four guns at the scene and found ballistic evidence suggesting at least 10 firearms were used in the shooting. Etwaroo also told residents that police believe the subsequent fire at the property was “an act of retaliation.” It is being investigated as an arson.

Police have not announced any charges in the shooting or the arson. Vernon Davis, a police spokesman, said Thursday both cases “remain open” and are “under active investigation.”

Neighbors told The Baltimore Sun in the aftermath of the mass shooting that the crime scene, near Calvin B. Scruggs Sr. Park, had been the site of rowdy weekend gatherings by motorcycle enthusiasts. It had created tension with residents, according to a community group and others. Some residents said they believed the mass shooting came during a confrontation between the bikers and a group of people playing basketball at the nearby park.

A man who spoke at last week’s community meeting alluded to those concerns, saying residents had been “complaining about the bike club for years, and now somebody is dead.”

The door to the garage that caught fire read “PRIVATE MEMBER’S ONLY” in stenciled letters. A “1%” sticker was also nearby, which some say is a reference to a 1950s comment by a motorcycle association that 99% were law-abiding, and the remaining 1% gave the rest a bad reputation. A sign on a streetlight pole outside the building carried the logo of the Thunderguards Motorcycle Club.

The representative of TB Aberdeen Motorcycle Club Inc. and Moon’s Motorcycle Transport LLC, both of which have been registered with the state at that address, has not responded to multiple requests for comment made by The Sun.

Alice Kennedy, the city’s housing commissioner, previewed the possibility of issuing a vacant notice for the warehouse at the same community meeting last week, saying that officials were inspecting the building to determine whether it could be classified vacant. That, she said, would give her agency “more tools in our toolbox to assist the community.”

Under the vacant notice, the owner has until Sept. 27 to correct the issues identified by the housing agency and to obtain required permits for future use. Permits would be required for renovation work, Hawley noted. She said the inspection that preceded the vacant notice would be “a normal follow-up to a fire.”

City records show the property is owned by a man who lives in Fort Washington, Maryland, in Prince George’s County. He also has not responded to multiple requests for comment made by The Sun.

A space next door to the garage that hosts a nonprofit with educational and professional development programs for young people was damaged by smoke from the fire last week. Markia Beckwith, the CEO of Natural Born Champions, said last week the center would have to close temporarily for repairs.

Beckwith did not immediately respond to a request for comment left by The Sun on Thursday, but Audrey Carter, a cofounder of the People’s Association of Oliver Community, a neighborhood association, said it was her understanding the vacant notice would mean Natural Born Champions could no longer operate in the space.

Carter said residents had wanted to see the motorcycle group cease operations, so likely viewed that step as a positive, but said if the youth center was forced to close, it would be an unintended consequence.

“Why wasn’t something done beforehand, before it got to the point where someone’s life was lost?” Carter asked. “A life that is taken is very tragic. Moving forward, what can you do to help?”

Carter suggested the city might look into a new space for Natural Born Champions, given the importance of having relationships with young people.

Meanwhile, she said, her community association is working to reach out to those affected by the mass shooting and provide resources, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. That city office initiated a 45-day stabilization response in the community following the mass shooting.

The city’s review board, which dates back to the late 1990s, is charged with investigating a variety of complaints made against city officers, including excessive force, false arrest, false imprisonment, harassment and abusive language. It recommends discipline to the chief of the officer’s department, which could be Baltimore Police or smaller agencies, including the sheriff’s office, city school police or Morgan State University Police, among others.

“The task before you all is not an easy one,” Scott told the new members at a ceremony Wednesday morning. “I’m confident that you all will handle that task with the utmost integrity and respect for those who report wrongdoing on the part of any police officers.”

The five new members — Ronnie Brown, Shannon Harris, Aaron Maybin, Priscilla A. Batten and Darren G. Rogers — each represent a police district across Baltimore City. They join a panel of volunteers that has been called a “toothless tiger,” but which uniquely hears and considers independent investigations of the police outside police investigators.

Maybin, a former NFL linebacker who turned to teaching art and helped open a recreation center in West Baltimore, said he was drawn to apply for the board because it is a “necessary service.”

“A lot of the work I’ve done in the community since I came back from college has been centered around not just police accountability, but community upliftment and self-determination,” Maybin said. “A vital component of that, especially in the City of Baltimore, that has a decadeslong rift between ourselves and law enforcement — it’s important that we have community versions of accountability that people can believe in.”

The city’s Civilian Review Board is separate from the more recently established Police Accountability Board and Administrative Charging Committee, which date to 2021 and have been established in jurisdictions across Maryland. The Administrative Charging Committee similarly is a panel of nonpolice who consider disciplinary cases pertaining to officer misconduct, but it relies on the police department’s own Internal Affairs Investigation.

Caron Watkins, director of the city’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights, which supports all three police oversight boards, acknowledged Wednesday that much of the focus and attention has recently been on the two newer boards. But, Watkins said, the work of the Civilian Review Board remains “important.”

“As you can see today, we want to make sure that it is equipped to be able to hear the cases that come through,” Watkins said.

She also noted that the city recently hired a “complaint intake specialist” to help “triage” complaints and identify, with complainants, which route would be best for their case.

Under the statutory process for the Civilian Review Board, members consider each complaint and determine whether to authorize an independent investigation by the board. For those complaints that are investigated, the board reviews completed investigative reports and reaches findings. It passes those on as a recommendation for discipline to the police chief. The recommendations are not binding.

If a complainant files directly with police, it’s possible that police could conduct an internal investigation while an investigation by the Civilian Review Board is simultaneously proceeding.

The five new members join a board that has been plagued by vacancies for a number of months. In January, there were just two board members out of nine voting members, one for each police district.

In April and May, the number of members fell to just one.

Meeting minutes show that board members regularly asked about the status of any incoming board members. In February, according to meeting minutes, a city employee said the process of moving candidates was “on hold” until after the legislative session ended around mid-April.

At the April meeting, the board’s chair attempted to interview applicants herself but was told by the then-director of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights, Dana Moore, that she couldn’t do that because the board was created by the state, not the city, so the powers laid out in the city charter did not apply to it. (Two of the six candidates in April — Maybin and Harris — were among those being sworn in Wednesday.)

Also at the April meeting, voting and nonvoting members questioned why the number of Civilian Review Board complaints were decreasing. At least one attendee suggested that complaints were not being reviewed for whether they fell within the Civilian Review Board’s purview, and instead were being forwarded directly to police.

At the May meeting, the most recent for which minutes are available online, the Office of Equity and Civil Rights reported 11 intakes by the Civilian Review Board and four completed investigations for the year. In 2023, there were at least 43 intakes and 16 completed investigations.

Watkins also noted Wednesday that the Office of Equity and Civil Rights would be doing more community outreach to help build awareness of the ways people can report police misconduct and see it investigated.

Rogers, another new member, said Wednesday that he applied to help create accountability for law enforcement and to show community organizers or residents that there are additional opportunities to lead in Baltimore.

“Often, individuals who are in the community and doing the work aren’t necessarily in these spaces. When they’re not in the spaces, it doesn’t give the opportunities for insight,” said Rogers, who runs a youth male empowerment project called I AM MENtality.

Those community perspectives are important, he said, because “if you’re on the ground all the time, you see the field a lot differently.”