Janet Bailey approached the lectern and broke her silence.

“I can’t see how you justify Miss Brooks and Mr. Melton being killed,” she bellowed, looking over the bridge of her glasses at Deputy Police Commissioner Brian Nadeau, who was sitting uncomfortably close by.

“Why? Why? Why?” she cried.

The members of the Baltimore City Council’s Public Safety Committee convened Wednesday to take on the broad topic of police accountability. A separate but related discussion of a recent spate of police-involved deaths was supposed to wait for a hearing that’s been called but not scheduled.

But for the dozens of members of the public who crowded the council’s chambers and spilled out of balconies and even into the street in front of City Hall, there was no time to wait.

“This needs to be addressed immediately, not kicking the can down the road,” said Charlene Rock-Foster. “It’s exactly what I’m here for.”

Tensions have run high in Baltimore since several high-profile deaths at the hands of Baltimore Police.

On June 17, 36-year-old Bilal “BJ” Abdullah, one of the last in a dying tradition of Baltimore arabbers, was killed by police after firing a gun at officers. Days later, police kicked in the door of 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks who was allegedly wielding a knife in the midst of a mental health crisis. She died from gunshots sustained in the confrontation. That same day, 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr. died after being shackled in Baltimore Police custody following his own mental health crisis.

Emotion spilled over Wednesday as several city residents lamented the deaths, particularly that of Brooks, who was known to police before the deadly encounter. Police Commissioner Richard Worley, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, told news media after Brooks’ death that police had been called to her home about 20 times prior to her death.

“The city missed 20 opportunities to bring resources,” said Nadean Paige, a West Baltimore resident who noted that several community groups operate offices near Brooks’ house. “We have to make sure that Black and Brown communities get the same treatment as other communities in the city.”

Bailey, president of the Laburt Improvement Community Association, begged to know why police did not summon their crisis response team or seek help from Tuerk House, a crisis center that operates several blocks away.

“That woman was 70 years old,” Bailey said banging her fist on the wooden lectern in front of her. “She shouldn’t be dead in that manner.”

Councilman Mark Conway, who chaired Wednesday’s meeting, sympathized with residents while attempting to steer them away from the discussion. Conway said the deaths were “weighing heavily” on everyone in attendance.

“We are holding a hearing,” he said. “We are ready to have that conversation.”

The hearing, which is being sponsored by Council President Zeke Cohen and will include the entire council, has not yet been placed on the council calendar. Officials said the body is eying the end of August for the session.

That was little consolation for Rock-Foster who said Wednesday that she could not wait.

“I want you to hear the passion in my voice and the passion of everybody else that came for the same reason,” she said. “When something happens, the community shows up. We want to speak on it and address it. Not later on, but right now.”