Baltimore Mayor Defends Riot Response

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is pushing back against critics who are questioning her handling of the riots that swept parts of the city on Monday night.

“You can’t see everything that I see; you don’t know all the different moving pieces,” she told reporters Tuesday morning.

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Monday night activated the National Guard in Baltimore and suggested Rawlings-Blake had held up the process.

“When the mayor called me, which quite frankly we were glad that she finally did, instantly we signed the executive order,” Hogan said.

Rawlings-Blake defended her handling of the crisis, and lamented the toll that the unrest had taken on her city. She noted that one of the fires gutted a West Baltimore CVS that had been seen as a crucial addition to the community.

“I spoke to someone here who knows how hard we fought to get a CVS to invest into this neighborhood,” she said, noting that the drug stores is the only place some people can pick up prescriptions nearby.

“Everybody know we have a city with great needs, and there are many that are struggling. What happened last night made sure that more people are struggling.”

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