Police detective’s slaying the talk of city residents
BALTIMORE — The death of a Baltimore homicide detective shot in the head with his own gun two weeks ago has transformed into a feeding frenzy of speculation in a city filled with armchair sleuths and deeply suspicious views of law enforcers.
The unsolved Nov. 15 shooting of Detective Sean Suiter is the talk of Baltimore, where residents are dissecting details of the case in offices, on street corners and on social media. It’s a homicide investigation, but the version of events offered up by police brass is being increasingly questioned since it came to light that the detective was shot a day before he was set to testify before a federal grand jury probing an elite unit of indicted officers.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has emphasized that Suiter, whose Baltimore-area funeral procession closed down major roads Wednesday, was not the target of any federal probe and by all accounts was a “stellar detective.” He said he understands the “wild possibilities that go through people’s minds when we all want answers” but stressed that the evidence refutes any notion that the slaying in a high-crime neighborhood was “part of any conspiracy.”
“There’s no path that we won’t go down if evidence takes us down that path. But right now, the evidence that’s available to us is indicative of a homicide,” Davis said.
But with the revelation of Suiter’s planned testimony before a grand jury and no arrests even with a $215,000 reward, there appears to be no end in sight to the rumor mill in a city accustomed to watching its streets as the setting for gritty TV crime dramas. The Baltimore Police Department also has had a tense relationship with many citizens in the majorityblack city for decades. Baltimore and the Justice Department entered into a reform agreement earlier this year after a scathing report by the federal agency outlined widespread police misconduct and abuse.
Rumors about Suiter’s killing went into overdrive last week when Davis confirmed that the acting U.S. attorney and FBI informed him that the detective was gunned down shortly before he was to testify in an ongoing probe of a specialized gun recovery unit. Eight indicted Baltimore officers, including four who have pleaded guilty to racketeering, are accused of defrauding their department, falsifying evidence and shaking down citizens. The same week Suiter was shot, a Philadelphia officer became the ninth officer indicted in the probe of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force.
On the day of Suiter’s shooting, police say he and his partner were working in a particularly rough section of West Baltimore while investigating a 2016 triple homicide. They wore badges and were dressed in suits and ties, as is standard for detectives.
Davis said Suiter approached a “suspicious” man in a vacant lot, leading to a violent confrontation in which he was shot with his own gun. Private video surveillance shows Suiter’s partner taking cover across the street at the time of the shooting, according to the police commissioner.