Tragic Weekend of Drownings, Shootings in Baltimore

Two men apparently drowned while swimming in the Patapsco River and three people were killed in a rash of shootings in Baltimore over the weekend, including that of a cab driver shot in the head while picking up a customer, authorities said.

The Baltimore Sun reports two men and a woman jumped into the Patapsco River Sunday morning, reportedly to go swimming. They were aboard the Cape Washington, a research ship docked in South Baltimore.

Baltimore police told the newspaper they are awaiting fingerprint analysis from the Medical Examiner's Office to identify the two fatal victims. A 24-year-old woman was found clinging to a pier near the ship, police said. She was treated at a hospital and released.

Also from the weekend, police are investigating two fatal shootings on Saturday, reports WTOP.

On Saturday afternoon, police say a cab driver was shot in the head when he was in the process of picking up a customer in the Westport area of south Baltimore. The cab driver later died at a hospital. Another man was shot in the hip during the same incident, and police say he's in good condition, WTOP says.

The second homicide occurred on the west side of downtown. Police say two men were shot, one of them in the head, in the 300 block of Park Avenue around 3 a.m. Sunday. The man who was shot in the head was pronounced dead at a hospital, while the other man is expected to survive, the station reports.

And, Baltimore City police officers are investigating three shootings that took place in just two hours on Sunday morning.

City police said a man walked into an area hospital about 1:15 a.m. with a gunshot wound to his right thigh. It was later determined that the victim was approached by two unknown people in the 3400 block of Grantley Road and was shot, according to WBAL TV.

About 15 minutes later, police said a man was shot several times in the 3100 block of Wylie Avenue. He was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.

Around 3 a.m., a man was killed and another was hurt in a double shooting downtown, the TV station says. Police said officers were called to the 300 block of Park Avenue, where they found a man who had been shot in the head. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police said a second victim in that shooting who was found with a gunshot wound to the groin remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

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