Officer William Martin

On this day in Baltimore Police History 10 October 1989 we lost our Brother Police Officer William Martin to gunfire based on the following:

Two Central District officers were shot, one fatally, while responding to a complaint of narcotics being sold in an apartment building in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Ave. Officer William J. Martin, 38, a ten-year veteran, entered the building and walked up a flight of stairs to the second-floor landing where he encountered a 20-year-old suspect who shot him twice in the head, and once in the left shoulder. He died at the Shock Trauma Unit at University Hospital. Detectives believe that the suspect ran to the lower level in an attempt to escape through a rear door when he encountered Officer Herman L. Brooks, Jr., 36. The two-year veteran and the suspect exchanged gunfire. Officer Brooks was struck twice, once in the chest and the other in his left ring finger. He was treated for his wounds and recovered. The suspect was wounded in the abdomen during the exchange of shots with Officer Brooks. He was treated for his wounds and recovered. A young Rookie Officer by the name of Officer Robin Johnson took the suspect into custody as he exited the apartment from the rear doors onto the parking lot, already injured by Officer Brooks Officer Johnson was able to take the suspect into custody without further incident.

Central District officers had responded to two previous calls at that address earlier that morning, one call was a narcotics complaint, the second was for a disorderly person. A 21-year-old suspect was also arrested by officers as he attempted to escape from the building. Officers recovered a .38 caliber Colt automatic from the lower level hallway. Officer Herman Brooks, Jr.’s life was saved, the University Hospital doctors say, by the departmentally issued soft-body armor.

As his brothers and sisters of the Baltimore Police Department we will not let him be forgotten, His service Honored the City of Baltimore, and the Baltimore Police Department may he rest in peace, and may God bless him.