Baltimore riots: Hear from York countians, Baltimore workers

York Daily Record staff | YorkDailyRecord

On mobile? Click here to view photo gallery

York countians voiced fear, fearlessness and frustration after protests turned violent Monday after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who died from injuries he sustained while in police custody.

Here are responses from locals about the riots in general and from York countians who work in Baltimore.

Colin and Jennifer MacDougall watched a fire unfolding in Baltimore on a television at the Seven Bar and Grill in New Freedom on Monday night.

"It's just a scary state of affairs," she said.

As an essential employee, Tim deFontes has to respond to work, even when riots ripple through the downtown streets of Baltimore city.

On Monday, what started as a peaceful protest in light of the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who died April 19 from spinal injuries sustained when he was in police custody on April 12, became a violent exchange between protesters and police.

Sara Brown moved from Baltimore to Red Lion just a couple months ago. She and her husband wanted to get away from the home break-ins, the car break-ins, the congestion and the racism.

On Monday night, soon after arriving home from her job in the billing department at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, she was more sure than ever that they had made the right decision to move to York County.

Dave Shaw, who works in the digital processing department of The Baltimore Sun, travels to Baltimore for his late-night 7 p.m to 3 a.m. shift Monday to Friday at the newspaper.

He made his normal commute Monday, despite the threat of nearby protests related to the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who died April 19 from spinal injuries sustained while he was under custody by Baltimore police on April 12.

It was another day for truckers and commuters headed to and from Baltimore this morning at the Shrewsbury park-and-ride.

Trucker Jessie Byrd told the Daily Record that he had dropped off a load at a distribution center in Glen Burnie, Md. last night.

Thomas Kirchner was expecting to be in the thick of the area of previous rioting as he finished his shift at Baltimore's Penn Station on Tuesday night.

The Littlestown resident is a locomotive engineer with Amtrak and works just a few blocks from where rioters set a CVS ablaze on Monday.

York County commuters: Where do they work?

As the protests transformed into riots in Baltimore Monday night and over last weekend, we were left thinking how the tension would affect York countians who work in Baltimore.

See a graph of York County commuters here.