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. As the suspect left the apartment through the back doors and onto the parking lot with injuries from Officer Brooks, a young rookie officer by the name of Officer Robin Johnson took him into custody. 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, and the second was for a disorderly person. As he made an attempt to flee the building, officers also detained a suspect who was 21 years old. Officers recovered a .38 caliber Colt automatic from the lower level hallway. The departmentally issued soft-body armor, according to the University Hospital doctors, saved Officer Herman Brooks, Jr.'s life.

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.