The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is sending help to Baltimore to stem the city’s skyrocketing murder rate, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The city has experienced its highest murder rate in history in the first four months of 2017, and violent crime is up by 23 percent compared with last year. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh last week called on the feds to assist with stemming the crime rate.
"I'm calling on all the assistance we can possibly get, because I can't imagine going into our summer months with our crime rate where it is today, what that's going to look like by the end of the summer," Pugh said.
"Murder is out of control."
The ATF will start using a gun-tracing van connected to a national database to try to quickly solve crimes.
ATF Baltimore Field Division Special Agent Daniel L. Board said the van will be "a tremendous asset to Baltimore by supporting a timely and comprehensive collection of firearm-related evidence at crime scenes, which in turn will help us reduce and prevent violent crime."
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