Even as Baltimore records historic declines in gun violence, city leaders paused Monday to honor lives lost — and to underscore that progress has not erased grief.
Mayor Brandon Scott joined city and state officials, faith leaders, and families on Jan. 5 at the city’s Annual Vigil of Remembrance. Held in War Memorial Plaza, the names of 133 people killed in homicides in 2025 were read aloud as residents gathered to honor them.
“As we remain steadfast in doing work the right way, we continue to prove that we can achieve historic reductions in gun violence,” Scott said. “At the same time, we recognize that even one life lost is one too many.”
The vigil also honored Baltimore residents who died from suicide, drug overdoses and fatal fires. Representatives from the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement participated, along with clergy members and performers from the Baltimore Urban Inspiration Collective.
“We grieve futures interrupted, families changed forever and communities still searching for healing,” said United Methodist Church Pastor Cassandra Nunez.
Nunez delivered a prayer during the vigil, wishing for the community to heal and grieve the violence of past years.
“May our remembrance shape how we live, how we care for one another,” Nunez said. “May it bind us together as one people in the work of repair.”
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Fire Chief James Wallace also paid tribute to first responders who died in 2025 while serving the city.
“This vigil is a moment to stand together to honor and memorialize those we lost, and to remind ourselves of the importance and urgency of the work we do each day,” Wallace said.
A decline in numbers
The ceremony came as Baltimore reported its lowest homicide total in decades. The city recorded 133 homicides in 2025, down from 201 in 2024 and 261 in 2023. Nonfatal shootings fell 24.5% from the previous year, and police seized more than 2,480 firearms in 2025.
Still, city leaders and advocates stressed that the numbers do not lessen the impact of the violence that remains.
“Each life is sacred and each life holds meaning,” said Stefanie Mavronis, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE). “We still lost 133 people to violence this year and lost many more to fatal overdose and suicide. That’s never something that we should normalize.”
The vigil closed with the reading of names — a reminder, speakers said, that behind each statistic is a life, a family and a community still mourning.
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