Black Baltimoreans rioted from April 6 to April 14, 1968. The uprising included crowds filling the streets, burning and looting local businesses, and confronting the police and national guard. The immediate cause of the riot was the April 4 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, which triggered unrest in 125 cities across the United States. These events are sometimes described as the Holy Week Uprising.