Baltimore 2AMer

Sep 3, 2023, 6:29 PM

A 29-year-old man was fatally shot inside the Norma Jean’s strip club on The Block, Baltimore’s red light district, early Sunday.

Police said that patrol officers heard gunfire coming from the club on Custom House Avenue around 1:18 a.m. Officers went inside and found a 29-year-old suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No other details about the shooting were disclosed.

Clubs on The Block, located near police headquarters and around the corner from City Hall, faced a potential 10 p.m. curfew last year after then-Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said rowdy last-call crowds were draining police resources. State lawmakers backed off such an across-the-board closing time, instead passing a bill that called for security measures to be implemented and on file with the city liquor board.

Clubs that don’t abide by the rules could be forced to shutter by 10 p.m. Liquor board officials did not respond to be requests for comment Sunday morning.

According to posts on its Facebook page, Norma Jean’s had been closed for a period of time and reopened in mid-July.

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Hank Moody2 years ago

Oh crap. I don’t ever go to the Block but this is the kinda shit that could get it shut down. It’s not good to shoot the tourists. It’s literally on the block next to Baltimore police HQ so stuff like this is embarrassing to the police.

Muddy2 years ago

If I ever do the block, it'll be in the daytime. Just think about when David Simon (wire creator) was writing about the bad old days in Baltimore back in the 1980's, the murder rate for Baltimore the last almost decade, since 2015 (around Freddy Gray) has blown past those years. Today is worse then the bad old days, right now.

Hank Moody2 years ago

It’s not worse, but it is about the same. The bad old days were about 350 homicides a year. It was down to 211 the year before the cops killed Freddy Gray and then stopped enforcing the law because the 6 cops were unsuccessfully prosecuted. The city has been around 340 a year since 2015, but it’s under 200 so far this year and hopefully trending better. I still avoid parts of the city at night but the places I mostly go are fairly safe.

steve30002 years ago

I have not been to the Block clubs for 15+ years. (Hustler didn't count as a Block club in my mind.) The Block has been fading for a long time now; I fear this will hasten its eventual demise.

funonthaside2 years ago

Damn! I feel bad for the victim. While The Block has never been free from extreme situations like this, it's been my observation that it's gotten exceptionally more seedy and uncomfortable there post-COVID.

No longer a place I see myself going, even without this latest sad news. Norma Jeans was a target of places I had been wanting to visit again, but it had been closed on the various prior visits to The Block.

Not only is Police HQ down the block from Norma Jeans, but the last time I visited at nighttime, police blocked Baltimore St around 10pm, so they were likely just a short distance from club when this occurred. So, the gunman was brazen enough to carry a weapon likely directly beside LE, showing an IDGAF mentality.