Test of Suiter

• A portion of the gun barrel was in contact with Suiter’s head at the time the fatal shot was fired;

• Suiter is right-handed, and the bullet entered the right side of Suiter’s head;

• The gun that killed Suiter had polygonal rifling, consistent with a Glock, which was Suiter’s service weapon;

• Suiter’s DNA was found inside the barrel of Suiter’s Glock and on its surface, meaning that Suiter’s weapon fired the fatal bullet. No other DNA was present;

• The remains of the fatal bullet are consistent with department-issued ammunition and the firearm issued to Detective Suiter (but could not be confirmed as Suiter’s Glock due to deformation of the projectile);

• All three spent shell casings found at the scene came from Suiter’s weapon;

• Blood spatter was found on the inside of Suiter’s right dress shirt cuff, indicating that Suiter’s hand and arm were in as high a position as was the entrance wound at the time the fatal shot was fired, with blood being expelled into Suiter’s sleeve;

• Suiter was trained in self-defense in both the military and the police, and specifically was trained to use the gun slide to disable the weapon if attacked;

• Trace amounts of DNA, which may be attributed to two officers who carried Suiter from the lot for hospital transport, were found on his person. Apart from that, no DNA other than Suiter’s was located on his person;

• The autopsy revealed no defensive wounds, such as abrasions on the knuckles, hands or arms, and Suiter was found with his police radio still in his left hand, which is inconsistent with a struggle;

• 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;

• Suiter was scheduled to testify before a federal grand jury the following day in connection with the BPD Gun Trace Task Force (“GTTF”) corruption investigation;

• Suiter was considered a “subject” of that investigation, and another GTTF member had implicated Suiter in criminal wrongdoing; and

• Suiter’s attorney repeatedly attempted to contact Suiter the afternoon of November 15 to confirm a meeting that evening at 5 p.m., but Suiter ignored the calls and texts.

The release Tuesday included a 207-page report detailing the boards investigation and findings, as well as video from nearby surveillance cameras, and an audio clip of Suiter's final radio transmission. 

The IRB, appointed by the former, and now federally charged Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, first convened on April 12th. The panel of seven lawmen, including two former Baltimore Police Homicide Unit members, is led by James “Chips” Stewart of CNA Analysis and Solutions out of Arlington, Virginia.

In the first meeting of the Panel, Stewart explained the purpose and task of the panel, “We are not going to re-investigate the homicide but what we are going do is to do an assessment of the work that has been done and we are going to carefully make recommendations of best practice in ways of what worked well and what needs improvement.”

Back in April, Stewart promised a “comprehensive report, and assessment of the facts, the circumstances, the response, the investigation and the conclusion and findings of this tragic act.”

The panel went on to meet nine times from April through August and just today produced that final document on the death of Sean Suiter.

Suiter was shot to death in the 900 block of Bennett Place on November 15, 2017. The original ruling of his death, and the ruling that still stands today by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is that Sean Suiter was murdered.

Suiter was shot by his own service weapon. Baltimore Police sources close to the investigation confirm that the final and fatal shot was to the back of his head near his right ear and exited through his left forehead. That slug was recovered by police, buried in the dirt which led detectives originally to conclude Suiter was in a struggle and forced to the ground.

Sources also point to other forensic evidence of dirt marks on Suiter’s pants and an unintelligible radio transmission as other signs of struggle with a suspect that eventually overpowered him.

The medical examiner ruled Suiter’s death a homicide as police continued to lock down the Harlem Park neighborhood looking for leads. Baltimore Police say they were originally looking for a suspect described as a black man in black jacked with a white stripe.

As the case continued to linger with few developments, former Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis requested the FBI take over the investigation, but the agency declined.

There is still a $215,000 reward for any tips leading to the arrest of a suspect.