Baltimore police shooting
The 30-year-old man shot by police on Friday died from his injuries last night, and if you're keeping score, this is the seventh shooting by city officers this year and the fourth to end with a suspect dead.
It's also the latest police shooting under a new policy in which police do not release the names of officers who fire their weapons. We've gotten names in some, but not all, from various sources, including court documents.
The policy has proven difficult to maintain for a variety of reasons. The first shooting under this policy involved a gunfight between drug suspects and police and left one officer and a suspect wounded. The police commissioner broke policy and announced the name of the officer who opened fire at a news conference, calling him a hero. It would've been impossible to keep the name quiet for long anyway because the man who was wounded was eventually charged, and the name of the officer who wounded him is in public court files.
The most controversial shooting under this policy occurred in February in which two officers shot a man during a struggle for an officer's gun. The man died and police tried hard to keep the public from learning the names of the cops who fired. They acknowledged that one of the officers had been involved in a previous police shooting in 2005, but when reporters at the Baltimore Sun asked for a copy of the offense report, we got it with the name of not only the officer but also the suspect blacked out.
Police told us they blacked the names out of the public document to prevent us from obtaining the court file that would have had the officer's name. We got the court file anyway and published the name of the officer who had been involved in the earlier shooting. The name of the officer who fired the fatal shot was still unavailable. But then we learned police had arrested a person at the scene who tried to help the suspect in his fight. A police spokesman told us he wasn't aware an arrest had been made; when we learned the name, we pulled court records and got the name of the second officer who fired his weapon.
That's the length police are going to keep these names secret.
That brings us to Friday's shooting. Two officers fired on an car that they said was being driving toward them during a drug investigation. The car hit one officer, injuring him slightly, and another officer fired and hit the driver in the chest. That man, Shawn Cannady, died Sunday night at Sinai Hospital. A passenger was arrested, but police spokesman Troy Harris told me this morning he was released without charges.
That means, at this point, there is no public record that would contain the name of the officer who fired his weapon. We are asking for more details on the officer's previous shootings and are awaiting answers. As I stated before, police released a report in the last case but blacked out the names.
I'm still not sure what the previous shootings were about. It's important because as we learned in the second shooting this year, the female officer involved had been in a struggle both in February and in 2005 with a suspect over her gun; four years ago, the suspect actually wrested the weapon away from her and threw it out a car window during an abduction. The gun discharged and a bullet hit a car seat; the shooting was ruled justified but it raised questions about her training and conduct.
What will we eventually learn about the officer involved in Friday's shooting?
Comments
I've just read this story, and it sounds like a another storm trooper was feeling a little trigger happy. The other suspect was released without charges and there's no mention of anything illegal being retreived from the car. But Shawn supposedly tried to hit the police. No way it doesnt work like that I'm from the Park Heights community and that just doesn't sound right. Maybe he tried to illude the police for his own personal reasons. And they shot him causing him to loose control of the car and hit the officer. Yes now that sounds about right. Personally this is just another one of the Baltimore City Police Departments skrew ups. We have to much killing as is in the city and yes if an officers life is in danger do what you have to do. But just because you have a gun and a badge don't abuse your powers taking inoccent lives. Serve and protect and stop finding ways to cover your mistakes up. Thats why no one respects the department because there just as dangerous as the killers in the streets. Thanks
Posted by: I'm getting tired | March 10, 2009 2:35 AM
dear author..the police officer that was involed in the sean cannady case was involed in a shooting that previous summer..he shot a guy nine times in the chest on popular grove street in baltimore. The officer and his partner pulled the guys car over and told them to get out..the passenger got out of the car and started to shoot at the officers.one officer was grazed by the bullet in his leg. the uninjured officer pulled out the driver and put him on his knees and shot him in his upper torso 9 times in front of the rosemont towers living center. the guy somehow makes his way to a nearby house where he is let in by an elderly woman. the officer tries to get the lady to open the door by threatening her but she refuses. He called for and ambulance and when it comes it takes the injured officer and leaves the critically wounded suspect in the hands of the elderly lady until another arrives 12 minutes later. the suspect is taken to a nearby hospital where he was told not to be identified when his mother came to see him. the family fought to identify him while the police came back to the crime scene days later intimidating people like me and the elder home so that we wouldn't testify. the other suspect was later found. the suspect survived the shooting and was transfered to central booking until his trial.In the police report, the officer said that the injured suspect shot at them. but the gun that was his had not been fired. during his trial, the suspect that got away came to testify against himself and said that he lied and said that his friend shot the officer because the officers told him that he wad dead. so he came to clear his friends name but instead the injured suspect received a 75 year sentence despite no physical evidence of his gun being fired and the other suspect received a 25 year sentence despite his testimony. By me being a family member to the both them, i feel as though this is an officer that needs to be put off the force and persecuted for his actions before he strikes again .
Posted by: jane doe | December 3, 2009 2:58 AM