A man was shot and killed after he swung a baseball bat at a person who cleans windshields at intersections for cash, Baltimore’s police commissioner said Thursday.
The 48-year-old man who was shot was driving through an intersection near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the afternoon when he encountered so-called squeegee workers and had a heated interaction, Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters.
Squeegee workers, also known as squeegee kids, consist mostly of teens from low-income neighborhoods who clean drivers’ windshields at intersections in exchange for money. Some drivers in Baltimore have complained about them.
The man drove through the intersection, parked his car and came back with a baseball bat, Harrison said.
“He swung the bat at one or more of those squeegee workers. In return, one of the squeegee workers pulled out a gun and fired, striking this male victim,” the commissioner said, adding that police didn’t know if he hit anyone with the bat.
The man was pronounced dead at a hospital. His name wasn’t released.
The workers fled the scene on foot, Harrison said. No arrests had been made as of late afternoon.
A witness told The Baltimore Sun that he saw a squeegee worker shoot the man after he got out of his car with the bat. Cody Bro, who was visiting Baltimore for a convention, said he saw the driver “arguing with one of the squeegee people — the people who squeegee your windows.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.