Further protests were organized after Gray's death became public knowledge, amid the police department's continuing inability to adequately or consistently explain the events following the arrest and the injuries.

Civil unrest continued with at least twenty police officers injured, at least 250 people arrested, 285 to 350 businesses damaged, 150 vehicle fires, 60 structure fires,[13] 27 drugstores looted,[14] thousands of police and Maryland National Guard troops deployed, and with a state of emergency declared in the city limits of Baltimore.

[21] On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African-American man, was arrested by the Baltimore City Police Department for possession of a “switchblade”, in the 1700 block of Presbury Street in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood.

While being transported in a police van, Gray sustained injuries to his neck, including his vocal box and spinal cord.

The BCPD could not immediately account for the injuries and released contradictory and inconsistent information regarding the timeline of the arrest, transportation and whether Gray had received appropriately prompt medical treatment.

[29] On April 24, a coalition of organizations including the ACLU, the NAACP, CASA de Maryland, and Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle requested Governor Larry Hogan to act and address issues of police brutality.

Giordano, a photographer for Baltimore City Paper, was taking pictures of the protest when he was "swarmed" and beaten by two police officers in riot gear.

[49] As a result, students from Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from Mondawmin Mall, had considerable difficulty leaving the area via public transportation when their classes ended an hour after the "purge" began, and contributed to the swelling crowd.

[56] Initially 75–100 people who appeared to be high school students began throwing bricks and bottles at police near Mondawmin Mall[57] after police refused high school students access to their primary means of getting home (the transportation hub at Mondawmin Mall),[58] while ordering them to disperse and go home.

[64] Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard arrived in Baltimore to provide security to vital infrastructure and to give additional support to police.

[64] At approximately 9:00 a.m., Hogan visited an intersection on West Baltimore that was heavily affected by the rioting with damaged vehicles and a looted convenience store, thanking those in the area for help cleaning up the streets.

[64] In one incident that went viral during the previous night, Baltimore mother, Toya Graham, repeatedly struck and berated her son on TV for throwing rocks at police.

[66][67][68] At 11:15 a.m. on April 28, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts praised Graham, stating, "I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there.

John Wachter also announced that Security Square Mall was going to be closed for the rest of the day following the spreading of rumors that planned actions were going to occur there.

Eric Kowalczyk discussing incidents that occurred on April 27, demonstrators gathered peacefully, though one individual was arrested and pepper spray was used when some protesters became disorderly.

Baltimore religious leaders announced that 14 churches throughout the city were open to give food to children that relied on schools to provide daily meals.

Shortly after 10:30 p.m., smoke bombs or fireworks were thrown from the crowd and police equipped with riot shields began to slowly advance on the gathering with some people beginning to disperse.

[95] On May 1, 2015, after receiving a medical examiner's report ruling Gray's death a homicide, state prosecutors said that they had probable cause to file criminal charges against the six officers involved.

[96] Mosby said that Gray "suffered a critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside the BPD wagon.

In July 2016, following the acquittals, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby dropped charges against Porter and the remaining two officers.

[21] On April 29, 2015, protesters marched through New York City, blocking off traffic in key areas, including the Holland Tunnel and West Side Highway.

Eleven people were arrested on April 29, 2015, following physical altercations in which police used pepper spray on protesters who rallied around Colfax Avenue and Broadway street.

[108] There were also solidarity protests in the cities of Ann Arbor,[109] Albuquerque,[110] Boston,[111] Cincinnati,[112] Minneapolis,[113] Oakland,[114] Philadelphia,[115] Seattle,[116] and Washington, D.C.[117] At a press conference in the evening, the mayor announced there would be a citywide curfew of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting April 28.

[90] U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch requested an independent civil rights investigation into the Freddie Gray case in hopes of calming the violence in Baltimore.

This was believed to be the first behind closed doors game in Major League Baseball history (it is occasionally seen in soccer as punishment for spectator behavior).

[135] Later, however, leaders of both the Bloods and the Crips denied the allegations,[136] released a video statement asking for calm and peaceful protest in the area,[137] and joined with police and clergy to enforce the curfew.

[143] When asked about the postponement of the Baltimore Orioles game, the Orioles' chief operating officer, John P. Angelos, said: My greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy ... is focused neither upon one night's property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships ... plunged tens of millions of good hard working Americans into economic devastation and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American's civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, an ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids' game played tonight, or ever....[144]The protests were originally covered on social media with the hashtag #BaltimoreRiots.

[145][146] Dr. Denise Meringolo, an associate professor and public historian at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,[147] and Joe Tropea, Curator of Films and Photographs at the Maryland Historical Society,[148] co-founded the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising digital archive to capture images and oral histories related to the protests directly from the local community.

[150] Police commissioner Anthony Batts blames looted drugs, stolen from 27 pharmacies and two methadone clinics, as well as street distribution and turf wars for the spike in crime.