Panel finds Baltimore Police Det. Sean Suiter's death was likely suicide, attorney for widow says

The independent panel appointed to review the death of Baltimore homicide Det. Sean Suiter has concluded that the officer likely took his own life, according to an attorney for his widow.

Paul Siegrist, an attorney for Nicole Suiter, said his client was informed of the determination last week.

“She is shocked by their conclusion,” said Siegrist, who said he would offer additional commentary after having a chance to learn the details.

A spokesman said there was no timetable for the report's formal release. The chair of the panel, James “Chips” Stewart, said he could not comment because the report was still being finalized.

Contrasting opinions about the case had been swirling within the Baltimore Police Department since early in the investigation, even as the state medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide. Some believed the evidence pointed to his death being a suicide staged to look like a killing, while others said that theory strained credibility and was a convenient out for an agency struggling to solve the death of one of its own.

Suiter was fatally shot in November while conducting a follow-up investigation on a triple homicide in West Baltimore. Police locked down the surrounding neighborhood of Harlem Park, and a reward for Suiter's killer reached more than $200,000.

A source who had reviewed an unreleased draft of the report said the panel reached the conclusion Suiter used his service weapon to take his own life based on “the totality of the evidence.”

The panel members cited forensic evidence that a portion of the gun barrel was in contact with Suiter's head, that his DNA was found inside the barrel and that blood splatter was found inside his right shirtsleeve, the source said. The panel found there was no evidence of any other gun being used in the incident, the source said.