Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Monday he is “furious” after a violence interrupter on the city’s payroll was charged in a nonfatal shooting over the weekend.
Mr. Scott laid into suspect Antoine Burton, 51, after he was arrested in a Park Heights shooting Sunday night that left a 40-year-old man wounded.
“This individual’s actions are a disgrace,” Mr. Scott said in a statement. “He has failed to live up to our standards for frontline community violence intervention staff and violated the trust that is at the very core of what makes violence intervention work overwhelmingly successful.
“Nobody should ever resort to violence to resolve conflict, especially someone tasked with promoting peace,” he said.
Police said Mr. Burton, who works with the city’s Safe Streets program in the Belvedere neighborhood, opened fire on the victim shortly before 7:30 p.m.
Officers patrolling the area heard the shooting and found the injured man, police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Authorities arrested Mr. Burton near Loyola Highway that same night. He was charged with attempted murder and several weapons charges.
“As is the case for anyone who commits an act of violence in our communities — regardless of who they work for or what they do — this individual should face swift, certain, and legitimate consequences, and I support our law enforcement partners in their work to hold him accountable,” Mr. Scott said.
Mr. Burton, who was convicted of armed robbery in the 1990s, has come under scrutiny before due to his financial troubles.
Last fall, WBFF-TV reported that the Safe Streets worker owed more than $200,000 in back taxes to the state and federal government.
Despite those personal issues, Gov. Wes Moore awarded Mr. Burton’s anti-violence organization, We Our Us, a $6 million contract to help the Department of Juvenile Services with youth offenders in Baltimore.
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