National Guard called in to keep the peace in Baltimore

Residents, reflected off broken glass, clean up after an evening of riots following the funeral of Freddie Gray on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. The violence that started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near Camden Yards.
Residents, reflected off broken glass, clean up after an evening of riots following the funeral of Freddie Gray on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. The violence that started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near Camden Yards.

BALTIMORE — National Guardsmen fanned out across the city, police with riot shields blocked streets, and firefighters doused smoldering blazes Tuesday after looting and arson broke out in Baltimore after the funeral of a black man who died in police custody.

It was the first time the National Guard was called in to quell unrest in Baltimore since 1968, when some of the same neighborhoods were convulsed by violence after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The rioting started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon — within a mile of where Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested and placed into a police van earlier this month — and by midnight had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near the baseball stadium. The streets were calm Tuesday morning.

At least 15 officers were hurt, including six who were hospitalized, police said. There were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structure fires and nearly 200 arrests, the mayor's office said.

Gray's death under still-mysterious circumstances has become the latest flashpoint in the nation's debate over the use of police force against black men.

Read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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