While Baltimore is seeing record-low homicides, the city is dealing with persistent juvenile crime concerns.

Four teenagers were arrested with multiple guns on June 1. Police said the teens also had an auto-sear, a device that turns a semiautomatic weapon into a fully automatic firearm. 

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley spoke to WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren about the department's successes and challenges ahead of a pivotal budget hearing Tuesday night. 

"If you don't put the guns down, we're going to come in," Worley said. "We're going to do an investigation. We're going to indict people. We're going to turn it over to the state's attorney or U.S. attorney or attorney general, and they're going to prosecute you."

4 teens arrested in Baltimore

From her front porch, Katherine Davis can see the 800 block of North Curley Street where police said four teenagers — ages 16, 17, 18 and 19— were taken into custody Sunday, June 1, and found with five weapons and ammunition. 

Their cache included extended magazines and an auto-sear device that makes . 

Commissioner Worley said it can be made using a 3D printer.     

Juvenile crime concerns

"We come up with who is driving the violence, who is doing the shooting. All of the wraparound services are offered to them," Commissioner Richard Worley said.

Worley told WJZ Investigates all categories of crime are down except shoplifting and said a small number of juveniles are causing the problems. 

"We had a 13-year-old over the weekend, we caught with a handgun in Cherry Hill," Worley said. "It's just incredible that these kids aren't learning, so there's got to be some discipline for the ones who continue to commit crimes."

Last week, WJZ obtained video of what the business owner believes are young people breaking into a Southeast Baltimore restaurant. 

The week prior, police say a 15-year-old repeat offender on electronic monitoring robbed a 12-year-old at gunpoint and kidnapped him.     

Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates mentioned that incident in an op-ed published Tuesday, where he wrote, "…We need a system that first and foremost holds juvenile offenders accountable for their actions. This does not include continuing to release these repeat offenders back into the community… ."

Worley told WJZ, "We can't continue to put them out there because what's going to happen, we're going to have a tragic event with one of these young people trying to commit a crime and someone who has an open carry permit or whatever it is, they're going to end up getting shot."

Record-low homicides in Baltimore

The city is seeing success in bringing down the overall number of shootings, with 56 homicides year to date, down 24% from last year to the lowest number ever recorded. 

Non-fatal shootings are down 25% from 2024, with 128 year-to-date as of Tuesday morning.

"We get judged by the one number, the homicide rate, and 56 is still too many for our city, so we want to continue to keep the foot on the pedal, the foot on the gas, and continue to drive down those numbers," Worley said. 

Metro Crime Stoppers recently publicized $8,000 . 

"The mayor's office did a fabulous job with cutting down the number of ghost guns coming into the city," Worley said. "Before the lawsuit and the ban on selling in the city, a lot of ghost guns made their way into the city."

Police staffing shortage

The commissioner said while BPD is still down roughly 500 officers, they have added almost 50 in the past six months.

He said he is confident the department can be at full, budgeted staffing levels within three to four years. 

Back in Southeast Baltimore, asked if she's feeling safer, Katherine Davis said, "I do because I don't bother anybody, nobody bothers me. …I sit on my porch and mind my business, and as long as they mind theirs, I'm good."

• Baltimore Police Department