This is a sad story that began nearly a month ago, on July 7 in Baltimore, Maryland. Timothy Reynolds, a 48-year-old engineer and father of three was driving through the Inner Harbor section of the city at approximately 4:30 pm. While stopped at a traffic light, Reynolds was approached by a group of so-called “squeegee kids” who attempted to clean his vehicle’s windows and demanded money. After pulling through the intersection, Reynolds exited his vehicle after retrieving a baseball bat from it. He approached the group who had just confronted him and allegedly swung the bat at one of them. A 14-year-old in the group then pulled out an illegal handgun and shot Reynolds. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.

Roughly a week later, the police received information about the young people involved in the killing and arrested a 15-year-old male. (He had been 14 at the time of the attack.) The boy is not being named because of his age but he was charged as an adult with murder and held without bail. This week, however, as word of the incident and the subsequent charges has spread, demonstrations have taken place in the city. But they’re not calling for justice for Timothy Reynolds. They are protesting the detention of the shooter, insisting that he is innocent. The boy told the same thing to CBS News during a phone call.

Family members and supporters rallied on Monday night for the 15-year-old squeegee worker accused of shooting a driver who confronted a group with a bat.

“I feel like I’m losing my child,” cried the mother of the 15-year-old squeegee worker, who’s been charged as an adult with murder.

“My son did not do this, no, my son is innocent,” she said, surrounded by family at McKeldin Square. The teen, who WJZ has chosen not to name, is accused of killing 48-year-old Timothy Renolds on July 7.

There are quite a few moving parts to this story and the Baltimore Police still haven’t released all of the details. They allegedly have a video from a local surveillance camera that shows the initial confrontation between Reynolds and the squeegee kids, as well as the shooting, but it has not been provided to the media. If the description given by the police is accurate, however, Reynolds is not entirely without blame. He made it through the intersection after being accosted and he could have simply continued on his way. Instead, he parked his vehicle and returned to the group with a baseball bat, which is technically a deadly weapon when used against people. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he deserved to be gunned down.

The shooter’s mother insists her son is innocent and only ever went out to try to earn money. But if that’s the case, what was a 14-year-old doing with a handgun? By definition, that was an illegal weapon since children that age are not allowed to legally purchase or carry a firearm. And if he didn’t shoot Reynolds, why did he run away and hide for a week? Perhaps we’ll have a better grip on this if the video is eventually released.

I brought this ugly incident up because this is yet another example of a sometimes lethal problem that has been plaguing Baltimore for years. These gangs of “squeegee kids” have been wreaking havoc for a long time. It’s almost amusing how the media describes them as “squeegee workers.” They are not workers because what they are doing is not work. They are not providing services that anyone asked them to do. Let’s just admit it and call this what it is. This is not “work.” It’s extortion. They pile on cars that are trapped in traffic at intersections and then threaten or assault drivers who refuse to give them money.

Back in early 2019, we were already seeing reports of families who were physically beaten at intersections in Baltimore after refusing to give money to the “workers.” The following year, a woman was hospitalized after the windows of her vehicle were smashed by these vandals and one of them ran her down. And it’s not just Baltimore where this is happening. This plague is showing up in New York City and other places as well.

Stop treating this as some sort of woke, urban jobs program. These people, many of whom are adults, not “kids,” are engaging in extortion under the threat of violence. If any of those motorists need their windows washed, there are plenty of places where that can be done. And none of them involve sitting in traffic. The police need to sharpen up and start clearing the corners of this menace.