With Baltimore homicides dropping below 300, who gets to take credit?

Baltimore will record fewer than 300 homicides in a year for the first time since Freddie Gray’s death, a grim benchmark city leaders have sought to sink below for the better part of a decade. This year’s decrease comes as cities across the country see similar declines in killings. Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New Orleans are all seeing significant drops compared to a year ago. Even with the reduction — Baltimore will record its lowest homicide total since there were 211 in 2014 — the city’s murder rate remains among the highest in the nation and is similar to what it was in the 1990s, the last time killings consistently topped 300 a year.