BALTIMORE -- On the day marking one year since he was shot in his yard at Brooklyn Homes, Anthony Wicks will honor the ones who didn’t survive.

He plans to tie a ribbon around a hackberry tree planted in memory of 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez, who was shot to death July 2, 2023, along with 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi. Twenty-eight others, including Wicks, were wounded as gunfire transformed a neighborhood party into a sprawling and chaotic crime scene.

For Wicks, Tuesday coincides with other grim reminders, coming just days before the anniversary of his brother’s death and a few months after he lost his mother this May.

“It’s like trauma building on trauma, like a snowball effect,” Wicks, 40, said. He also said officials who promised they would help him pay his bills after the shooting didn’t follow through.

But on an afternoon in June, he saw signs of hope. He pointed to a few children, like his daughter, Myracle, who were bold enough to venture outside to play.

“The kids just started coming back,” he said. “It’s kind of good to see kids outside.”

A year after Baltimore’s largest mass shooting, little resolution has come from the criminal justice system. The two homicides remain unsolved and some residents — and attorneys who represented several teenagers charged with lesser crimes — are skeptical anyone will be charged with murder.

Meanwhile, Baltimore Police have taken some steps toward addressing their flawed response, including strengthening officers’ presence in the community and relationships with residents. But questions remain about how comprehensive the solutions are.

Doubts about the justice system and the city’s response have left residents, whose grief and trauma linger, turning elsewhere.

“For Black people, it’s just another story. It’s not closure,” said Rejina Douglas, a Brooklyn Homes resident.

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