In the spring of 2018, Pinky Louise Ruffin, a 65-year-old Black/African American woman, was tragically killed in a shooting in Baltimore, Maryland. On the evening of April 14th, Ruffin was simply enjoying some fresh air on her porch in the Allendale community of West Baltimore when gunfire erupted. She was an unintended victim, an innocent bystander caught in a violent act that was not meant for her.
The shooting also claimed the life of 22-year-old Marques Patterson.
According to the Baltimore Police Department, the incident was a targeted shooting, and Patterson was the intended victim. As shots were fired, he reportedly ran towards a home for cover, and in the chaos, both he and Ruffin were struck by bullets. Emergency services transported both victims to a nearby hospital, but their injuries proved to be fatal, and both were pronounced dead.
The death of Pinky Louise Ruffin was part of a particularly violent weekend in Baltimore, which saw a total of five people killed in various incidents. In the immediate aftermath, neighbors and acquaintances of Ruffin expressed their shock and sorrow, describing her as a nice person and noting the relative quietness of their neighborhood. They recounted that she and her boyfriend had spoken of wanting to move away.
At the time, the Baltimore Police Commissioner, Darryl De Sousa, stated that the police had some leads and believed the shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather involved known individuals. However, in the years that have followed, there has been a lack of publicly available information regarding any specific suspects or arrests made in connection with the deaths of Pinky Louise Ruffin and Marques Patterson. The case remains a painful memory for a community that lost a beloved elder in a senseless act of violence, leaving her family and friends to grapple with the unresolved nature of her tragic death.
