Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who faced criticism for her handling of riots in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, won't seek re-election, she announced Friday. The development comes as Baltimore gears up for the trial of six police officers charged in Gray's death.
During a press conference, Rawlings-Blake said that time spent running for re-election would be "time that I would be taking away from my current responsibility to my city, to the city that I love, the city that I took an oath to serve." In addition to the riots following Gray's death, Baltimore's homicides in 2015 have soared, surpassing those in New York City, a much larger city.
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