Documents: Report on shooting that killed unarmed informant
When Dennis Gregory was shot and killed by Baltimore police officers in February 2010, the department reported that Gregory had aimed a gun at the officers, who fired back.
As it would turn out, The Sun reported in March for the first time, Gregory had been an informant who had summoned officers to the scene to report a friend armed with a handgun. It was the friend, Glenn Brooks, who exchanged gunfire with the officers Chris Funk and Matthew Ryckman, who shot and killed Gregory, who was unarmed. Gregory's family said they had been stymied in their attempts to learn more about the case, with calls and visits to police going unacknowledged.
Now, in compliance with a Public Information Act request, the police department has released to The Sun hundreds of documents related to the investigation that shed some additional light on what led to the shooting. [The department initially withheld eight pages of the 17 page summary report without disclosing that the pages were not being released, as required by the public information law. The documents were only produced after a reporter challenged why the report did not include any statements from the officers involved in the shooting, which had been the crux of the initial request.]
The new documents reaffirm that the shooting appears to be a tragic mistake in pursuit of an armed offender, though one which the family says the department has not been up front about and which some say is indicative of poor training.
Records show that the officers involved in the shooting had been alerted to the informant's information through their off-duty sergeant, Parker Elliott, who told investigators that Gregory was a registered informant who had worked with the officers before.
Funk and Ryckman parked their vehicle in a rear alley and crept up through an alley; in statements that appear to be carbon copies of each other, the officers say they identified themselves as police and were shot at, then returned fire; Brooks, who was armed and on guard because a friend had been shot days earlier, said the officers never identified themselves and that they were the ones who shot first.
A source said the officers refused to give statements (as they, like anyone, are allowed to do during a criminal investigation) but were compelled to do so because prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge Brooks for handgun violations without an account from police.
The report you see below was forwarded to city prosecutors, who recently cleared Funk and Ryckman of criminal wrongdoing. Gregory's family has said they are pursuing a civil lawsuit.
Categories: Northwest Baltimore, Police shootings
Comments
Nice work pushing them to give you what they should have in the first place - good reporting Justin, thank-you for it.
Posted by: baltobikeboi | June 23, 2011 2:07 PM
Thank you for the truth. I am longinh for the day when the police tell the truth..
Posted by: Rosa | June 25, 2011 4:38 PM