Just days after the city’s prosecutor announced officers would face charges in Gray’s death

2015/5/5-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch made a stop in Baltimore Tuesday, as tensions have begun to cool following a week of unrest and uncertainty.

Lynch, who is one week into her new role as the nation’s top prosecutor, met with community and faith leaders and politicians just days after the Baltimore City prosecutor announced charges against six Baltimore police officers in Freddie Gray’s death. Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Elijah Cummings were reportedly in the room.

“This is a flashpoint situation,” Lynch said at the meeting. “We lost a young man’s [life] and it begins to represent so many things.”

The death of 25-year-old Gray, who died due to injuries he sustained while in police custody, was the match that lit the proverbial flame in Charm City, leading to days of protest that at one point turned violent. Lynch met with the family of Gray around noon on Tuesday. The meeting was closed off to press. Later in the afternoon, Lynch is expected to meet with Baltimore police and the mayor.

The new Attorney General is following in the footsteps of the now-retired Eric Holder in her visit to a city where a young black man’s death shined new light on mistrust between the community and police. Following the death of Michael Brown in Missouri, Holder traveled to Ferguson to meet with local leaders.

source: Time

Maya Rhodan