BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Police are still looking for the person who shot and killed 48-year-old Timothy Reynolds. It happened at Light and Conway Streets Thursday around 4:30 p.m. during a confrontation with squeegee workers.
A relative of Reynolds who asked not to be identified told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren that “he was a good man.”
A relative of Reynolds said he was too shaken to speak on camera but said Tim was “a good person.” https://t.co/2SetL5C3Ya
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) July 8, 2022
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He also said Reynolds was a father and the family is in shock and mourning. Reynolds’ family has asked for privacy.
Hellgren asked Police Commissioner Michael Harrison whether he was able to provide additional details about how the encounter unfolded but Harrison declined to expand upon the basic information he outlined Thursday.
Mayor on Light and Conway homicide; he also says 42 jobs will be offered today to squeegee workers. @wjz pic.twitter.com/aD6PUrEhCM
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) July 8, 2022
He said then that a “heated interaction” transpired between Reynolds and squeegee workers, which escalated when Reynolds parked his car and approached the group with a bat, swinging it at “one or more” of them.
Harrison said police have some video of the incident but are looking for more.
“We’re combing through a lot of evidence right now,” he told reporters at a Friday news conference.
Ron, a squeegee worker who declined to give his last name, told Hellgren he knows and sometimes washes windows with the group of squeegee workers involved.
“He was all aggressive. He got out of his car with a bat and swung it at everybody,” Ron said. “I figured the man shouldn’t have hopped out with a bat.”
Police were a visible presence today at many corners where young men wash windows for money. The commissioner said he ordered “enhanced patrols.”
Today, there is a police presence with squeegee workers at several corners in downtown Baltimore. Lombard and President. @wjz pic.twitter.com/biOnhqmb8n
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) July 8, 2022
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At Light and Conway Streets, squeegee workers were nowhere to be found Friday. There were windshield wiper parts still on the ground there.
“I feel like it could have been avoided. They’re out here trying to hustle,” said Lacenia Perry, who lives downtown. She said the young men are a frequent presence on that corner.
“We are not going to tolerate acts of violence regardless of who is committing them,” Mayor Brandon Scott told reporters Friday.
Scott stressed that he is trying to provide pathways from the corner for the squeegee workers but city officials declined to say whether they would force them from intersections.
“Some would say this is as simple as clearing the corners, rounding them up,” Scott said. “It isn’t.”
There were several incidents involving squeegee window washers reported at the same intersection in the hours before Reynolds was killed.
“The squeegee workers have been a terrible problem for many years and it’s been unaddressed by the city. . . . It certainly has had a major impact on people being afraid to come to the city because they’ve been harassed for years and years,” Gov. Larry Hogan told WJZ Friday. “This is just the pinnacle of the problem right downtown across from the Inner Harbor with somebody getting shot.”
Anyone with information on the shooting should contact the police. Anonymous tipsters can call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-Lockup.
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The nonprofit organization is offering a reward of up to $8,000 for tips that lead investigators to arrest the person who shot and killed Reynolds.