Chelsea Bailey, NBC News, November 4, 2017

Baltimore’s second attempt at a 72-hour cease-fire was cut short after midnight Saturday when police say an off-duty officer was fatally shot.

Metropolitan police Sgt. Tony Mason Jr. was struck inside a parked vehicle in Baltimore and was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died from his wounds, police said.

Mason was a 17-year veteran of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department. A woman who was with Mason at the time of the shooting was also hit in the leg, but is expected to recover.

Baltimore police said they have launched an investigation into the shooting and the shooter remains unknown.

On Friday, Baltimore hit 300 homicides in 2017, according to police data, making this the third year in a row that the city has reached the grim milestone.

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According to The Baltimore Sun, more than 90 percent of the homicides in Baltimore are a result of shootings, and more than 90 percent of the victims have been black boys and black men between the ages of 18 and 30.

[Editor’s Note: Baltimore’s attempt earlier this year at a ceasefire also failed.]