Dial 911 and DIE: Baltimore shop owner calls 911 fifty times, gets zero police response

(NaturalNews) Once again, Americans are witnessing rioting and destruction in another major U.S. city, and once again, they are watching as the powers that be flail about helplessly, even lending support to those who are doing the most damage.

As reported by Britain's Daily Mail, slowly becoming apparent is the extent of damage done to Baltimore shops and businesses in the wake of a riot that ostensibly began on behalf of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old local African American man who died April 12 in police custody under circumstances that remain unclear.

Scores of shops, businesses, convenience stores and gas stations were burned and/or ransacked around the city, leaving a landscape that some local officials and residents liken to "a war zone."

The paper further noted:

Shopkeepers told Daily Mail Online that they fled in terror as looters rampaged in as they were still inside - and stole everything.

A family of four had to flee their apartment above the liquor store they owned when it was set ablaze underneath them.

And a gas station owner said that he had lost $53,000 after his store was ransacked. An empty ATM was smashed open during the frenzy.

What's more, embattled and trapped residents called local police repeatedly but were never able to get officers to respond. One man, Rajneesh Nagpal, 39, told the paper that he was furious after dialing cops some 50 times without ever getting an officer to show up.

"This is not protest. They're destroying their own community," he said. "I don't see any national guard. Nobody cares about us."

More on that National Guard comment in a moment.

Pre-staged event that turned out as planned

Various reports said that the rioting began at Mondawmin Mall, in Northwest Baltimore, on April 27, a Monday, following the funeral of Gray, who died a week after he was arrested by police. But one report, from The Baltimore Sun, provided a different perspective.

The local paper said a recent Hollywood movie may have played a role:

Monday's violent acts followed the distribution of a flier on social media calling for high schoolers to "purge," a reference to a movie in which all laws are suspended for a day.

But that was the only reference given; clearly, however, there was a build-up to the events that unfurled, especially given that many of the "protestors" who wound up rioting were young people.

Were the rioters given a free pass essentially? And if so, is that why police did little, initially, to stop them?

As reported by The Daily Caller:

Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made a stunning admission Saturday in the aftermath of violent protests over the recent death of Freddie Gray, saying she wanted to give space to those "who wished to destroy."

"I've made it very clear that I work with the police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech," she said at a press conference. "It's a very delicate balancing act, because while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well."

National Guard, police held in check on purpose

Back to the decision to withhold deploying the National Guard.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acted as though he was anticipating Rawlings-Blake's eventual call for Guard assistance much sooner than he got it, noting that, when it finally came late Monday, April 27, it took him about 30 seconds to issue the order.

"When the mayor called me, which quite frankly we were glad that she finally did [my emphasis], instantly we signed the executive order. We already had our entire team prepared," he said. "[W]e were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time. She finally made that call and we immediately took action."

Given Rawlings-Blake's frank admission that she essentially ordered police "to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech," she was saying that, on her orders, police were initially supposed to stand down and let the mob rule.

It's no wonder local business owners and residents like Rajneesh Nagpal are upset. They were intentionally left to the devices of rioters, on official orders from the mayor's office.

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

http://www.baltimoresun.com

http://dailycaller.com

http://dailycaller.com