Sean Suiter facts for kids

Sean Suiter (October 6, 1974 – November 16, 2017) was a Baltimore City homicide detective who was found dead on November 16, 2017, with a shot in the head, a day before he was scheduled to testify in front of a federal grand jury against corrupt police connected to the Gun Trace Task Force scandal.

Career and background

The funeral for Sean Suiter. Governor Larry Hogan and Mayor Catherine Pugh are in attendance.

Suiter, 43, was an 18-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department. Colleagues have said Suiter was an honest and beloved cop. A neighbor described Suiter saying, "He was pleasant; had a smile on his face all the time. He looks young ... looks vibrant and has a great spirit about him." Suiter was given a hero's funeral and praised for his work as an officer. Former Baltimore police Commissioner Kevin Davis said Suiter was not a target of the federal investigation around the Gun Trace Task Force. Suiter however, was connected earlier in his career to several members of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force including Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, Detective Maurice Ward, and Detective Momodu Gondo, who each later pled guilty in the racketeering case. Gondo, a disgraced former detective, also told a jury that Suiter was corrupt and that they stole money together.

Death

Suiter was investigating a triple homicide that occurred a year earlier, when the shooting occurred near 959 Bennett Place, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was shot in the head at close range with his own service weapon, which was recovered under his body. Blood was found on the inside of Suiter's shirt sleeve. Suiter's DNA was found inside the barrel of his own Glock. His death remains unsolved despite a $215,000 reward. ..... The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board published a detailed article arguing why the theory that Suiter was murdered was implausible. They concluded by stating: "We have no idea who killed Sean Suiter. Each explanation is as implausible as the next."

City officials, however, have been split about the case. The medical examiner ruled that his death was a homicide. In 2020, Baltimore City made a decision to award $900,000 in workers’ compensation benefits to Suiter's widow Nicole Suiter. ....."

Kevin Davis, the Baltimore Police Commissioner at the time, believed that Suiter was murdered. He asked the FBI to take over the investigation into Suiter’s death. However, the FBI declined, saying it had no evidence to suggest Suiter’s death was “directly connected” to the corruption probe or any other federal case.

The controversy around Suiter's death was once again brought to public attention with HBO's release of We Own This City, a portrayal of the Gun Trace Task Force scandal. ..... The show also insinuated that Suiter took his own life because he was afraid of being implicated by his own grand jury testimony. ..... David Simon published a rebuttal detailing why the writers decided to depict Suiter's death this way.

Closing of Harlem Park neighborhood

After Suiter was found shot, police cordoned off and put the Harlem Park neighborhood on lockdown for six days. The area included 100 houses, a church and two stores. Described as akin to martial law, officers positioned around the area's perimeter stopped residents, asking them for identification and preventing them from entering their own homes without identification. Members of the community later sued the city for the lockdown alleging that the city violated residents’ constitutional rights. The Baltimore Police Department paid $96,000 to settle the suit and issued a formal apology.

Popular culture

Suiter has been the focus of several media and popular culture works:

• We Own This City (HBO). Suiter was played by Jamie Hector
• The Slow Hustle (HBO). A documentary from director Sonja Sohn (HBO's Baltimore Rising and The Wire)
• We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption, by Justin Fenton