Baltimore riots: Mother of Freddie Gray, Gloria Darden, appeals for peace as violence grips city

Family of 25-year-old man spoke just hours after his funeral service

Freddie Gray's mother, Gloria Darden, appealed for calm (Reuters)

As rioters ransacked and set fire to their own city, the mother of Freddie Gray – the young black man whose death in police custody was blamed for triggering the violence – went before the cameras and appealed for calm.

"I want you all to get justice for my son, but don’t do it like this here,” Mr Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, said during a press conference on Monday evening.

Looking exhausted, hours after having buried her son, she added: “Don't tear up the whole city just for him. That's wrong.”

Mr Gray’s stepfather, Richard Shipley, echoed her comments, saying that the family was “really appalled [to see the funeral transformed into] all this violence and destruction”.

Mr Gray’s twin sister, Fredericka, also spoke of the family’s distress and said she did not think the people wrecking the city were doing it in the name other brother. She said: “I don’t like it at all.”