"One of the Best Officers I ever Worked With"

Alison Knezevich, Justin Fenton, and Kevin Rector This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Contact ReportersThe Baltimore Sun

As a young patrolman assigned to the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore, Sean Suiter impressed his supervisor as a conscientious and poised officer who “operated beyond his years.”“The writing was on the wall early in his career that he was going to ascend the ranks in any path he chose,” said Maj. Martin Bartness, who was Suiter’s sergeant 15 years ago.On Wednesday, Suiter was back in Harlem Park — now 43 and a homicide detective, dressed in a suit and tie. Police say he was working a 2016 homicide case when a man shot him in the head.Suiter, an 18-year veteran of the department, died shortly after noon Thursday. He leaves a wife and five children.Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called Suiter “a wonderful detective, husband, father, and friend.”“We remain dedicated and committed to finding the person who ended such a beautiful life,” Davis said. “We will find the person responsible for this ridiculous, absurd, unnecessary loss of life.”Suiter’s colleagues remembered him Thursday as a dependable investigator who was often smiling.“You will hear his smile come up again and again,” Bartness said. “He had the cheeks, and he was really quick with a smile. Whenever I think about Sean, it’s with a smile on his face. But he wasn’t clownish, and he was not the guy who was always ripping jokes. He was just very good-natured.”Suiter was born and raised in Washington, Davis said. He served in the Army, officials said and lived in York County, Pa. Det. Jonathan Jones was Suiter’s partner in the homicide unit. He was not with him when he was shot.Jones said Suiter loved the Dallas Cowboys. He was known among detectives as “Face;” on the street, citizens knew him as “Scar.” Both referred to a facial scar.Jones was with Suiter recently when someone shouted for Suiter. It was a man Suiter recalled chasing around the Western District. The man was now employed and thanked Suiter for the way he had interacted with him in the past.“This was Suiter — a great guy, and an even better detective,” Jones said.Rick Willard, a retired officer, led a drug squad on which Suiter served.“He was not only a good cop, he was smart and smiled a lot,” he said. “Everyone that worked with him loved him. Even when you were down he would smile with his mischievous smile and make everyone happy and feel at ease.“He is one of the best officers I ever worked with, and it breaks my heart.”Capt. Torran Burrus supervised Suiter at two different points during his career, when he was a drug officer and later when he moved onto a district detective unit.“He had a good keen eye for narcotics activity,” Burrus said.He said Suiter was known for his good nature. The detective had a “contagious smile” and a penchant for cracking jokes.Former Baltimore prosecutor Jeremy Eldridge called Suiter “a man with integrity.”“He was one person you could always count on,” Eldridge said. “Every time I called him, he answered.”Eldridge said he worked with Suiter on many drug cases.“He worked tirelessly to put together very well-thought-out cases,” Eldridge said.Suiter joined the city’s homicide unit in 2015. The first case he closed was the killing of Kendal Fenwick, a young father gunned down in Park Heights. Devante Brim has been charged with first-degree murder in Fenwick’s death. His first trial ended in a mistrial in June. He is scheduled to be tried again next year.Suiter was listed as the arresting detective for Elias Josael Jimenes Alvarado, the Salvadoran national convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of two women in Northwest Baltimore in 2016. A jury in August found Alvarado guilty in the deaths of Ranarda Williams and Annquinette Dates.Before joining the homicide unit, Suiter worked in the citywide shootings unit, which investigates non-fatal shootings.In an email to the department, Davis said Suiter’s “tragic death will forever impact the BPD.”“Each of you goes out there and put your lives on the line every single day,” Davis wrote. “The importance of your sacrifice and Sean’s can’t be overstated.”

Baltimore Police Detective has Died, Department Seeks 'Heartless, Ruthless, Soulless Killer' in Shooting

A veteran Baltimore police detective died in the hospital today, one day after he was shot in the head by an unknown gunman, police said.

Homicide detective Sean Suiter, an 18-year veteran with the Baltimore Police, was conducting a follow-up to a homicide investigation around 5 p.m. Wednesday when he saw a man engaging in suspicious activity, police said.

Suiter approached the man and was shot in the head shortly after, police said.

The officer's partner was nearby and rushed over to render aid, they added.

The officer was immediately taken to the hospital and placed on life support, a hospital official said.

Suiter was in "very, very grave condition" Wednesday evening and was fighting "for his life," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said.

Suiter, 43, died around noon today, authorities said.

He was a married father of five.

Davis said today that Suiter was "a loved guy" who "loved being a cop.

"We have lost our best. When I was a new sgt in the WD, Det Suiter was my rock. He knew his post; colleagues & citizens respected him. He was the man u wanted investigating ur case & patrolling ur neighborhood. Quick with a smile & big of heart, he is dearly missed. RIP, my friend

2:42 PM - Nov 16, 2017

As police hunt for his killer, authorities said evidence suggests the suspect may have been wounded.

Davis on Wednesday described the at-large suspect as "cold" and "callous."

"The individual responsible for this heinous crime will be found, charged, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan wrote on Twitter. "The Baltimore Police Department has our full support as they track down this violent criminal and bring him to justice."

"May God bless the brave men and women of the Baltimore Police and all law enforcement who serve and protect us every single day," he added.

The individual responsible for this heinous crime will be found, charged, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. @BaltimorePolice has our full support as they track down this violent criminal and bring him to justice.

A $69,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest.

These are our notes, for our research.. so the following is for admin use

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. Members of an outside review board released a 207-page report and concluded that Suiter was not murdered but took his own life because he was due to testify before a grand jury the next day and staged his death to appear like a murder so his family could receive line of duty benefits in case he lost his job as a result of incriminating details coming to light the grand jury testimony. The review board argued that Suiter was under duress about potentially being tied to corruption through the Gun Trace Task Force case and had "every incentive" to make his suicide appear to be a murder. 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. Nicole Suiter claimed that the fact that she received this workers' compensation payment is an implicit admission by the city that Suiter was indeed murdered and did not commit suicide, as "You do not win workers’ compensation cases unless you are injured, hurt or killed on the job."

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 depicted Suiter staging his suicide to appear like a murder. The show also insinuated that Suiter took his own life because he was afraid of being implicated by his own grand jury testimony. This aroused much anger from Suiter's friends and family who did not believe it was a suicide. David Simon published a rebuttal defending the show's depiction of the events.

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,[26] 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.

THE STRANGE CASE OF BALTIMORE POLICE DETECTIVE SEAN SUITER

3 June 2020

Jennifer Lewis

The night of Nov. 15, 2017, was cold and brisk on the streets of West Baltimore. Two detectives canvassed the 900 block of Bennett Place near Fremont Avenue, investigating a triple homicide that took place a few years prior. What appeared to be a typical night on the job turned into something much more harrowing as the evening sky grew dark. Two detectives were on the scene, but only one would live to see the next morning.

A 911 call was placed at 4:36 PM by Detective David Bomenka, a junior homicide detective of the Baltimore Police Department. His frantic call indicated that his partner on the case, Detective Sean Suiter, had been shot and needed immediate assistance. In less than 24 hours, Suiter was pronounced dead at the University of Maryland Medical Center — but the questions of that fateful afternoon continue to haunt the residents of Baltimore.

Suiter was an 18-year veteran homicide detective with a golden reputation amongst his peers. The Washington, D.C., native was a dedicated husband and devoted father who made it his life’s mission to better the streets of Baltimore. The shock of Suiter’s death stunned the city as details began to emerge surrounding the investigation.

The most shocking revelation of all?

Suiter died the day before he was scheduled to testify in a federal case, indicting eight officers of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). The task force was set in place to monitor the overwhelming amount of gun violence plaguing the streets of Baltimore. Instead, the involved officers used it to glorify their power by robbing citizens, wrongfully planting fake evidence, and time theft — clocking in when they weren’t working. Suiter was involved in a 2010 arrest made by members of the GTTF, who knowingly planted heroin on a suspect. Suiter was expected to testify his witness account, as he too was misled by the arresting officers during the encounter.

Suiter died one day before he was set to testify in a federal case indicting eight officers of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). Original illustration by Lenny Miller/Coffee or Die.

Suiter died the day before he was scheduled to testify in a federal case indicting eight officers of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force. Original illustration by Lenny Miller/Coffee or Die.

The Baltimore Police Commissioner was quick to rule out any foul play connecting the shooting to Suiter’s upcoming Grand Jury court date, but the city of Baltimore was not convinced.

Bomenka’s recollection of the day also placed doubt in the minds of those close to the case. He claimed that Suiter had spotted a suspicious person in a vacant lot off Bennett Place. Suiter instructed Bomenka to wait at the corner while he investigated the area. Within minutes, the sounds of gunfire filled the air, and Suiter was on the pavement with a gunshot wound to the head. There wasn’t a trace as to who attacked him.

Suiter’s gun, three shell casings, and the bullet responsible for ending his life were all recovered at the crime scene. The only description of the suspect described an African American male wearing a black jacket with a white stripe. There were no surveillance cameras in the alleyway, no witnesses, and no additional evidence. The case had no leads or persons of interest, leaving the family of Sean Suiter without answers as to who was behind this heinous and deliberate murder.

By early 2018, the case was at a standstill, with all tips investigated and all leads exhausted. In an effort to solve Suiter’s case, the Baltimore Police Department commissioned an independent review board (IRB). The board reviewed the accounts made on the night of his death, as well as the following investigation.

Their findings shocked Suiter’s family, the entire force, and the city of Baltimore as the report concluded that Suiter’s cause of death was not murder after all — it was suicide.

The IRB’s conclusion centered around Suiter’s upcoming court date, leveraging his testimony against the GTTF as the sole reason he would take his life. They also argued that the fact that he was shot with his own gun posed enough evidence for suicide as Suiter was well-trained in self-defense and was proficient in using and disabling his service weapon. Despite Bomenka’s statements indicating Suiter was approaching a suspicious person, there was no indication that anyone else was with Suiter in the vacant lot on Nov. 15, 2017.

This new finding was met with controversy. The medical examiner who conducted Suiter’s autopsy, as well as Baltimore’s city attorney, cast doubt on the report’s cause of death. The Suiter family also rejected the claim, as did their family attorney. They argued that not enough had been done during the investigation, including full testing on the weapon used, which contained DNA from Suiter and a partial strand from an unknown assailant.

Despite efforts made on behalf of Suiter’s family, friends, and attorney, the Baltimore Police Department accepted the IRB’s findings. In November 2019, just days before the second anniversary of his death, Suiter’s case was closed, and his cause of death was ruled a suicide.

Suiter’s family has continued to publicly criticize the handling of the case, believing his death to be the result of an inside job. As of May 2020, there have been no additional findings, coverage, or information to support their claim. All that remains is the memory of a hard-working detective, dedicated father, and devoted husband whose too-short life made an incredible impact on his community and on those who loved him. 

Coffee or Die Magazine | The Strange Case of Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter

What Have People Said About Sean Suiter's Death?

30 May 2022

BY ROXY SIMONS 

Detective Sean Suiter's death while on duty on November 16, 2017 remains a matter of contention to this day.

The Baltimore Police Department detective died from a gunshot wound to the head the day before he was due to testify in court in the Gun Trace Task Force case, whose corruption scandal is explored in HBO's We Own This City.

Suiter was shot after he darted into a vacant lot in a neighborhood in West Baltimore. Police later claimed Suiter was shot with his own gun which was found underneath his body, per the Baltimore Sun, and his death was officially ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.

However, an Independent Review Board that later investigated Suiter's death labelled his death a suicide, something his family have vehemently refuted.

What Have People Said About Sean Suiter's Death?

Sean Suiter and Jamie Hector

In this combination image, Detective Sean Suiter (R) and actor Jamie Hector who plays Sean in the show "We Own This City." Sean Suiter, Baltimore detective was killed with his own gun just one day before he was set to testify before a federal grand jury in a case involving other officers, 2017.

In the We Own This City finale, which aired on Monday, May 30, Suiter's death is depicted in such a way that it does not give a definitive answer as to whether his passing was a homicide or a suicide.

This was something actor Jamie Hector, who portrays Suiter, appreciated about the HBO show, and he told Newsweek: "I feel like the show talks about exactly what it knows about, you know... this is what happened with Sean up until the point that we don't know what happened to Sean.

"Because we don't know if he took the money, because we don't know if this happened, everybody has their own opinion as to what happened. There was a study that was shown leaning in specific directions, right?

"For me personally, because, you know, there was not an eyewitness to the situation and he has a family that has to live with it as well, they did a great job of telling the story as to what happened to Sean."

Letting the Viewers Decide

The show's co-creator David Simon added: "I think for the sake of viewers we should just let people experience what the known moments are, what was witnessed, and let people decide as they will.

"If you're asking me individually... I think fundamentally, once you read the independent reviews, once you walk the ground, once you talk to the investigators, once you look at what was in that file, and what reasons they had for being out there, and what the physical evidence is, this man took his own life.

"It's not as satisfying, it's not as dramatic as the idea of him being assassinated because he was going to testify in front of the grand jury, or all the other narratives that you could possibly conjure, but it's the one that actually fits the evidence."

 

Baltimore Police Detective Died by Suicide, Report Says.

Darran Simon Janet DiGiacomo

By Darran Simon and Janet DiGiacomo, CNN

30 August 2018

A Baltimore police detective who officials initially said was fatally shot in a struggle with a suspect actually took his own life with his service weapon, according to an independent report released Tuesday.

Sean Suiter, 43, was shot in the head with his own gun November 15 in a vacant lot in West Baltimore, police said.

The fatal shooting occurred the day before Suiter, a homicide detective, was scheduled to testify before a federal grand jury in a police corruption case involving fellow officers. Then-Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said at the time that a brief call Suiter made on his police radio occurred during a struggle with a killer.

Detective Sean Suiter

Suiter’s death led to a manhunt, 12 search warrants, 123 interviews and a reward of more than $200,000 for the capture of the suspected gunman.

By early 2018, Baltimore police had exhausted all leads, and so commissioned an independent review of the homicide investigation, the circumstances surrounding the shooting and lessons from that day, according to the report.

The Independent Review Board said the lack of defensive wounds on Suiter’s knuckles, hands or arms, along with the presence of shell casings from Suiter’s Glock service weapon at the scene and the officer’s DNA inside the barrel of the gun and on its surface helped the board reach the conclusion that Suiter took his own life.

Suiter was right-handed, and the bullet entered from the right side of his head, the report said. Blood spatter was found inside his right sleeve cuff, it said.

“It is most implausible that anyone other than Detective Suiter could have fired the fatal shot with his weapon,” the report said.

Baltimore residents “should not fear that a ‘cop killer’ is on the loose,” the report said.

The report also criticized the statements of Davis, who initially said that Suiter approached a man “acting suspiciously” and then was killed. There was no evidence to support that conclusion, the report said.

“The commissioner repeatedly shared unverified and ultimately inaccurate information with the public, despite the emergence of forensic and other evidence suggesting that Suiter took his own life,” it said.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh ousted Davis in January, saying the city wasn’t reducing violence fast enough.

Davis could not be reached for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.

What the report found

The seven-member board, which includes former law enforcement members, reviewed material including witness videos, radio and 911 transmissions and footage from a neighborhood camera on the day of the shooting.

Neither Paul Siegrist, an attorney for Suiter’s widow, nor the detective’s union, the Fraternal Order of Police, could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Gary Tuggle, Baltimore’s interim police commissioner who took over in May, said police will integrate the independent board’s recommendations into the department’s reform efforts, and expressed his condolences to Suiter’s family.

“My hope is that Detective Suiter’s family will see some clarity as a result of this report as they continue to mourn,” Tuggle said.

Tuggle said “the case remains an open investigation within the police department.” The medical examiner’s office, which has a copy of the report “would be the entity to make any determination with respect to changing [the] manner of death, not the police department,” Tuggle said.

Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday: “We don’t discuss cases that are under investigation.”

A month before Suiter’s death, the report said, a detective with the department’s now defunct Gun Trace Task Force pleaded guilty to felony charges in a corruption probe and implicated Suiter in robberies in 2008 when they were both officers. That detective said Suiter “knowingly planted heroin in a suspect’s car to justify a high-speed police chase” that led to an accident killing an elderly driver, the report said.

Suiter declined to be interviewed by the FBI in the corruption investigation and was served a grand jury subpoena, the report said. “Suiter was reported to have asked the FBI agents ‘(W)ill I lose my job?’ ” the report said.

Suiter, who was considered a subject of the investigation, was granted limited immunity for all potential criminal acts arising from that incident, the report said.

These undated photos provided by the Baltimore Police Department show, from left, Daniel Hersl, Evodio Hendrix, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor, Maurice Ward, Momodu Gando and Wayne Jenkins, the seven police officers who are facing charges of robbery, extortion and overtime fraud, and are accused of stealing money and drugs from victims, some of whom had not committed crimes.

7 Baltimore officers accused of abusing power, robbing citizens

The day before the shooting, Suiter requested David Bomenka, a “very junior” detective, accompany him to a West Baltimore neighborhood to find a potential witness, known only as “Mary,” in a triple homicide Suiter investigated nearly a year earlier, the report said.

The two detectives returned to the neighborhood the next day and began searching for a suspicious person Suiter said he had seen, the report said.

During the search, Suiter’s attorney called him twice because they were scheduled to meet later that day. But Suiter did not pick up.

At one point during the search, Suiter made a waving gesture to Bomenka, unholstered his weapon and ran toward a vacant lot, out of view of surveillance cameras and Bomenka, the report said.

Bomenka said he heard Suiter yell, “Stop! Stop! Stop! Police!” He also heard gunshots as he approached Suiter, the report said. During this time, Suiter’s radio transmitted an “unintelligible sound,” then a loud noise and then went dead, the report said.

Bomenka, who was roughly 60 feet behind Suiter when he went into the lot, didn’t see a shooter but saw “gun smoke hovering close to the ground where Suiter was located,” it said.

The actions that led to Suiter’s death occurred in “less than nine seconds,” according to the report.

“Video from a neighbor’s video camera and testimony of two witnesses establish that a suspect would have had a couple of seconds at most to disarm Suiter, shoot him with his own weapon, erase any trace of his presence, and exit the vacant lot without being seen or heard,” the report said.

Suiter was found face down, holding his radio in his left hand with his gun underneath him, the report said. His was the only DNA recovered from his gun, it said.

Blood splatter found inside Suiter’s right sleeve meant it must have been exposed to where the bullet entered his skull at the moment he was shot, the report said.

The 18-year officer, a married father of five children, was pronounced dead the next day.

In addition to determining Suiter was not killed by an unknown suspect, the report also put to rest another theory, saying Suiter “was not killed by his partner Detective Bomenka.”

“Detective Sean Suiter spent the last hour of his life ignoring his attorney’s calls and texts,” the report said.

Instead, he drove around the neighborhood “ostensibly looking for a mysterious ‘Mary’ and perhaps another mystery suspect,” the report said.

“He had a meeting at 5 p.m. to prepare to face his difficult choice before the grand jury” – admit guilt and lose his job, or deny wrongdoing and possibly face charges, the report said. “Time was running out. Suiter’s futile searches may have signaled a quiet desperation before a final, tragic decision.”