BALTIMORE — The city of Baltimore is under a state of emergency Tuesday.
Rioters upset over a man's death in custody have plunged part of Baltimore into chaos, torching a pharmacy, setting police cars ablaze and throwing bricks at officers.
The violence comes hours after thousands mourned Freddie Gray, a man who died from a severe spinal injury he suffered in police custody. The circumstances surrounding Gray's death are still unclear as the investigation continues.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan governor has declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to restore order. Meanwhile, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has declared a weeklong, daily curfew beginning Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Hogan is temporarily moving his office from the state capital, Annapolis, to Baltimore on Tuesday.
Hogan spokeswoman Erin Montgomery said the governor will visit sites around the city Tuesday morning and plans to work out of state offices in downtown Baltimore with Cabinet members and senior staffers.
"I have not made the decision lightly. The National Guard remains a last resort to restore order," Hogan said.
Police said 15 officers have been injured in the Baltimore riots and two are still in the hospital. More than two dozen people have been arrested after people looted stores, set cars on fire and threw bricks at police.
"What we see tonight, this going on in our city, is very disturbing," Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.
Officers wearing helmets and wielding shields occasionally used pepper spray to contain the rioters. For the most part, though, they relied on line formations to keep protesters at bay.
"We are deploying every resource possible to gain control of this situation and to ensure peace moving forward," Rawlings-Blake said. "I think that we have to respond to what was going on-on the ground. We've seen what happens when other jurisdictions have overreacted and brought in resources that escalated the violence on the street and I didn't want that to happen in Baltimore."
Efforts to restore calm have been repeatedly thwarted. Firefighters trying to put out a blaze at a CVS store were hindered by someone who sliced holes in a hose connected to a fire hydrant, spraying water all over the street and nearby buildings.
Later Monday night, emergency crews battled to get a blaze under control after rioters sparked fire to a new senior community center.
Caught on camera: Baltimore mom slaps son for throwing rocks at police
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