Harford sheriff's deputy's gun stolen from convenience store
UPDATE: A reader noted that this story was first reported on March 24 by The Aegis newspaper, a sister publication of the Baltimore Sun. That story can be found here, and the paper identified the officer as Deputy First Class Ken Hildt.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office put out a press release this afternoon that they needed the public's help finding a stolen handgun. The release said it was taken from the Mountain Road Royal Farms Store in Joppa, and described the two suspects. It also included surveillance camera stills of the suspects and offers a cash reward.
What the release didn't include, The Sun's Jessica Anderson learned, was that the gun belonged to a county sheriff's deputy.
Of course, that was our first question: why was a handgun in a Royal Farms store in the first place? Police acknowledged that the gun belonged to a deputy who made a pit stop and left his gun in the bathroom. Oh, and the incident occurred March 1.
Earlier this month, an off-duty DC cop had his gun stolen after picking up a woman in East Baltimore. He initially said he had been carjacked.
Jessica will have a story up about the missing gun in Harford soon, and we'll link to it here.
Comments
While this story has merit. One wonders why the reporter feels the need to draw a corollary between the two incidents involving officers and their handguns. Is it the reporters intent to disparage all law enforcement as incompetent. Neither incident is similar in facts or circumstances other than the fact that an officer's handgun was the subject matter. Once again, one of Sun's "Crime Reporters" has managed to turn a news story into an editorial of personal opinion devoid of neutrality and filled with bias. Of course, this could be just a blog post, however, following the Sun's hyperlinks doesn't differentiate.
You got all that from this post? The only point was to note that twice this month we've seen officers handguns taken and which are now loose on the streets. -JF
Posted by: JustVngnc | May 1, 2010 5:19 PM
How was the gun left in the bathroom? Shouldn't it have been secured in a holster?Something is missing. There are details that are being left out.
Posted by: GuardianSelfDefense | May 2, 2010 11:00 PM
This is ridiculous by any stretch of imagination. This Sheiff deceives nothing but firing. These are some of the rogue officers within our law enforcement officers. As a law enforcement officer, I was trained to always retain my weapon at all times. A loaded gun at the hands of criminals is nothing less than a ticking time bomb. For a law enforcement officer to put citizens lives at risk is unacceptable and repugnant. I would recommend that Officers have better training on issues like this.
Posted by: rasong | May 3, 2010 12:06 AM