Manhunt continues for detective’s killer
BALTIMORE — It was not unusual for Sean Suiter to be roaming through one of the city’s most violent neighborhoods as night fell.
The 18-year police veteran spent his early days as an officer patrolling West Baltimore, returning often as a homicide detective seeking closure for those mourning loved ones lost on its streets.
Looking for answers is what Detective Suiter was doing Wednesday while investigating the triple shooting of three young men left to die last December in a boarded-up house.
Detective Suiter was working the case with his partner from the homicide unit and wanted to speak to a suspicious-looking man in a vacant lot between rowhomes. But shortly after Detective Suiter approached, the man pulled a gun and fired.
With a single gunshot to the Detective Suiter’s head, the gunman transformed a detective charged with solving Baltimore’s murders into the city’s 309th homicide of the year.
The slaying of the father of five became yet another tragic symbol of violence in this crime-battered city, where the killings continue to soar and the mayor says crime is “out of control.”
“I pray for Baltimore,” said Dana Bell, the mother of one of the victims in the triple homicide Detective Suiter was investigating. “If people don’t respect the law and life, they aren’t going to respect anything.”
As of Thursday night, law enforcement officials said they were actively searching for the gunman, whom Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called a “heartless, ruthless, soulless killer.”
“We remain dedicated and committed to finding the person who ended such a beautiful life of such a wonderful detective, husband, father and friend,” Commssioner Davis said.
Detective Suiter, 43, was a U.S. Navy veteran who had grown up in Washington, D.C., and lived with his wife and family in Pennsylvania.
He was transported Wednesday to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center shortly after the shooting about 5 p.m., where he remained on life support until he was pronounced dead at noon Thursday.
Police had only a vague description of the suspect, saying he is a black man who wore a black jacket with a white stripe and may be injured.
The reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case was increased Thursday to $169,000 after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had the state boost the amount by $100,000.
Though Commissioner Davis said, “it shouldn’t take 69 cents” for someone to “do the right thing.”
After the shooting, tactical units and helicopters fanned out in the area, with the neighborhood still taped off well into Thursday as police cadets went canvassing door to door.
It is the second time this month that a police officer has been shot in Baltimore. On Nov. 4, an off-duty D.C. police sergeant was fatally shot while sitting with a woman in a car in Northwest Baltimore.
Before Wednesday, Baltimore had logged 308 homicides for the year, up 14 percent from 271 this same time in 2016.