A New Urban Threat? Squeegee Kids Becoming More Violent in Major Cities

A father of three was shot and killed after an altercation involving several “squeegee kids” in downtown Baltimore. Timothy Reynolds, a 48-year-old mechanical engineer, was shot to death after confronting a group of teens and young men with a baseball bat.

The circumstances of the crime are unclear. What motivated Reynolds to get out of his car and approach the young men with a baseball bat is unknown. But the squeegee kids have been known to get violent when drivers refuse their services or don’t pay.

Fox 45:

Business owners have long complained that the squeegee panhandlers are frightening visitors and draining business.

In Little Italy, restaurant owner Gia Blatterman blames city hall.

“It starts at city hall, at the police department and at the prosecutors’ office. I want that name to be changed to ‘non-prosecutors’ office,” Blatterman said.

It’s difficult to gauge how much business the city may be losing, however, many business owners are now pleading for relief.

“I don’t want Baltimore to die but nobody is helping,” Blatterman said.

The phenomenon of squeegee entrepreneurs goes back to the 1980s when young men could hustle a decent living by cleaning windshields. But today the squeegee groups are organized bands of young adults who use coercive and threatening tactics. It’s really an organized extortion racket, and the police are powerless to do anything.

Just hours before Reynolds was shot, the police reported several other incidents involving squeegee kids.

• Around 11:30 a.m.: State Sen. Antonio Hayes was approached by a group of squeegee kids at Light and Conway streets. Hayes said he was assaulted, but the assault did not involve a gun. But he refused to provide any details. In a statement, he urged city leaders to take to action to stop the squeegee kids from operating at downtown intersections.
• Around 1 p.m.: A female driver was approached by a group of squeegee kids at Pratt and President streets, another popular squeegee intersection. When she offered to give them $3 in cash, they told her they don’t accept cash anymore, only Venmo, a financial app. At that point, more young men approached, took her phone, and used a financial app on her phone to steal about $2,400.

There’s a law already on the books against squeegeeing at city intersections, but the cops don’t enforce it. Councilman Zeke Cohen wrote a letter to the mayor’s office calling for action.

“Enforcement must take place,” Cohen wrote. “The message must be clear that we will do everything within our power to get our children into meaningful employment, but squeegeeing cannot continue.”

Other cities allow squeegee workers only at certain intersections. But it’s not squeegeeing itself that’s a problem. It’s organized gangs that see squeegeeing as just another way to coerce and intimidate people to get money out of them.