Six people shot, two fatally, in Baltimore shooting spree: Police

A shooting incident in the US city of Baltimore has left two people dead and four others injured.

On Wednesday night, an unidentified gunman shot dead two men, left a third fighting for his life and shot three other people in northwest Baltimore, according to police. The shooter is at large.

Police spokesman T.J. Smith said the gunman opened fire on people standing in front of a store in Windsor Hills neighborhood in Baltimore at about 6:00 p.m.

One victim was pronounced dead at the scene while another one succumbed to his injuries at hospital, Smith said, adding  that a third man was critically injured, and three more people – one man and two women –had non-life-threatening injuries.

Police believe the shooting was in retaliation for a murder in the area a few days ago. They have a limited description of the suspect and have urged witnesses to come forward.

In a similar incident on Thanksgiving Day on November 24 in the state of Kentucky, two people lost their lives and four others sustained injuries.

Murders and other violent crimes in US cities rose by 10 percent in 2015 compared to a year earlier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in its annual report last week, fueling concerns that the nation’s more-than two-decade trend of falling crime rates may be ending.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the US every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder, and suicides.

The US Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms with gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), asserting that restrictions on gun purchases would not improve public