Baltimore Mayor Fires Police Chief Over Rising Homicide Rate After Freddie Gray Death

The mayor of Baltimore, Maryland has fired the city's police commissioner among a spike in homicide rates following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in April and the subsequent arrest of six police officers.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced this week that Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had been asked to step down from his position following the homicide rate spike and the protests that accompanied Gray's death.

Rawlings-Blake said in a statement that following the Gray incident, Batts' leadership had become a "distraction" and that the city needed a fresh start in order to move forward.

"Recent events have placed an intense focus on our police leadership, distracting many from what needs to be our main focus: the fight against crime," the mayor said.

"We need a change," the mayor continued at a news conference held Wednesday. "This was not an easy decision but it is one that is in the best interest of Baltimore. The people of Baltimore deserve better and we're going to get better."

Following the April death of Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal cord injury, Rawlings-Blake called on the federal Justice Department to investigate police bias in the east coast city.

"We have to make sure we get this right,'' the mayor said of the investigation, which she called for in May. "Failure is not an option.''

"We all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the police and the community," Rawlings-Blake added.