It took just 50 minutes into the year for Baltimore to record its first homicide of 2009.

Police spokesman Officer Troy Harris says a man was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds around 12:50 a.m. Thursday on a street near Patterson Park in East Baltimore.

Baltimore, still one of the nation’s most violent cities with 37 murders per 100,000 citizens, did have its lowest number of homicides in 2008 since 1988. It doesn’t appear to be off to a good start this year.