Immediately following the mass shooting at Brooklyn Homes on July 2, 2023, Mayor Brandon M. Scott directed multiple city agencies, including the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), the Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD), the Baltimore City Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and one independent agency, the Housing Authority of Baltimore (HABC), to develop After Action Reports (AAR). The Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) was directed to develop an AAR, but after further review the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Faith Leach, determined that the agency did not have any relevant involvement with the mass shooting as the incident occurred at a HABC property, which does not leverage the city’s permitting system for events. As such, DOT was not required to submit an AAR. 

As one of the most painful, traumatic chapters in Baltimore’s recent history, the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting will leave a devastating impact on the city forever. By initiating an urgent agency AAR process, Mayor Scott sought to achieve three main objectives:

• Provide an immediate internal assessment of each agency’s response to the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting incident and review the timeline of events leading up to and following the incident,  
• Identify strengths, weakness, and perceived system breakdowns, and  
• Provide lessons learned, identify best practices and recommend changes to policies, procedures, and protocols.   

Taking from best practices and standards within their respective industries where available (i.e., public safety and emergency management standards), each agency led their own internal AAR process. The Mayor’s Office and CAO provided feedback on agency AAR strategies but limited the feedback so as to not compromise the integrity of the agency’s internal assessment. 

Agencies submitted drafts of their AARs on August 17, 2023 to the CAO who, after reviewing the initial drafts and providing feedback on each report, developed a series of recommendations that range from improving cross-agency collaboration and communication to strengthening government systems, processes, and policies. These recommendations are separate and in addition to the individual agency’s recommendations included in their own reports. 

For the full resulting document, which consists of the CAO’s memo and the four independent agency reports, please read the After Action Reports (AAR).

Read for the Mayor's full statement on compiled AARs.