The recent murder of an 18-year police veteran in Baltimore should not go without our pausing to honor his service to the Black community. Sean Suiter, who earlier in his career patrolled one of the city’s most dangerous areas, West Baltimore, had been doing his job along with his partner — investigating the December 2016 triple shooting of three young men who had been left to die in a boarded-up house. After approaching what reports describe as a “suspicious man,” the individual pulled out a gun and fired once, with the bullet striking Suiter in the head.
Suiter, 43, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, Nov. 16, one day after being shot.
The U.S. Navy veteran who grew up in the District, later marrying and moving his wife and their five children to Pennsylvania, becomes another tragic example of the violence that has overtaken Charm City. With his yet-unsolved murder, the detective, husband, father and friend becomes Baltimore’s 309th homicide of the year. The city’s police commissioner, Kevin Davis, says the search continues for the gunman whom he described as a “heartless, ruthless, soulless killer.” Maryland Gov. Hogan has added to a posted reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailant, increasing the amount to $169,000.
And while officials have only a vague description of the Black man who murdered Suiter, the search goes on with a slew of officers heavily combing the streets. Someone knows something. Someone has bragged about killing a cop. Someone needs to help the police get this murderer off of the streets.
Meanwhile, five children must now face their futures without their father. Police officers risk their lives everyday so that we are safer. They intervene during instances in which citizens are in danger, or have been harmed or fear for their lives and the lives of those they love.
We owe much to the men and women in blue who swear an oath to “protect and serve.”
We pray for Detective Suiter’s family and hope that the coward who took his life will be caught and punished for his crime.