Local News

While police search for suspects, hundreds turned out to pay their final respects to former city Councilman Ken Harris who was gunned down outside a popular night spot last weekend.

Mike Hellgren reports the funeral was held at Morgan State University in Baltimore Thursday morning.

Ken Harris left a lasting impact on Baltimore. Those at the funeral celebrated his legacy and successes as they worked through their grief.

Baltimore has lost so many due to senseless violence. The murder of Ken Harris, one of more than 150 killed this year, has left a gaping hole in the city's heart.

He wasn't just a leader. He was a father, son, husband and friend.
 
"I thank God for the child that he gave me. I thank God for everything he ever gave me. I thank God for abject poverty because that is what taught him to be the man that he became," said Sylvia Harris, Ken Harris' mother. 

Ken Harris died suddenly, violently, ambushed, gunned down by a masked man early Saturday morning at The Haven, a jazz club. The killers are still on the loose.

"There were times, when my father, before the city of Baltimore even knew about him, he walked around with soles falling off the bottom of his shoes, but he made sure my brother and I had. So I'm just thankful that I had him in my life, even though it was a short time," said Nicole Harris-Crest, daughter.

Ken Harris served eight years on the Baltimore City Council, was instrumental in the city's smoking ban, fought against police arrests quotas and shared his outrage over the high number of senseless killings in his home town.

"We've all lost a friend, a fighter and a champion, but we will never lose your spirit," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger.

Born to a single mother and raised in the Park Heights neighborhood, Ken Harris graduated from Dunbar High and was even drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he chose to stay in Baltimore, raise his two children with his wife.

"Doesn't matter where you come from, doesn't matter where you start; it matters where you end," said Harris's mother.

Despite an intense search for those behind his murder, police have few clues. One of them is a mask left behind that police are testing for DNA.

Ken Harris was a rare breed in politics; honest, a maverick, always ready to speak out for what he believed in, shaping the city that shaped him.

Harris's mother vowed to start a foundation in his honor to carry on the community service her son was so passionate about.