BALTIMORE _ Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has asked the FBI to take over the investigation into the death of Detective Sean Suiter.
Davis made the request in a formal letter submitted Friday to Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Christopher Wray. An FBI spokesman said the agency is aware of the request, but otherwise declined to comment.
Davis announced his decision at a news conference Friday, saying that a connection between Suiter's case and a sweeping, ongoing police corruption case _ in which Suiter was scheduled to testify as a federal witness the day after he was shot _ had diminished his faith that his own detectives could handle the death investigation while in the dark about the corruption investigation.
"Our homicide detectives, some of the best in the business, some of the best I've ever seen, can't do their jobs effectively if there is a perception or a reality that we don't possess all the information that we need to conduct the investigation," Davis said.
He also acknowledged that handing over the investigation could ease public concerns about whether it would be objective.
"The community needs to know that I am willing, and this police department is willing, to invite any extra sets of eyes or resources, whether it's investigative or prosecutorial, to look at this incident to try to figure it out," he said.
Davis said he discussed his decision with Suiter's widow, Nicole, and his family, and that they seemed to understand it.
Suiter, a homicide detective, was fatally shot in the head Nov. 15 amid what police have described repeatedly in recent weeks as a violent struggle with an unknown suspect on a troubled block in West Baltimore.
Davis said Friday that investigators also have looked into the possibility Suiter committed suicide, but have found no evidence supporting that theory and don't believe it is probable.
However, one source familiar with the investigation told The Baltimore Sun that inside the Police Department, officials are divided about where the evidence points. While some share the commissioner's view that the case appears to be a homicide, some lean toward suicide as the most likely explanation, the source said.
"The evidence we have could mean a lot of different things," the source said. "There's no particular evidence that would indicate murder, accident, or suicide."
Maryland's chief medical examiner, Dr. David Fowler, said his office ruled Suiter's death a homicide last week but has been continuing to gather information and review evidence. He said his office has been meeting with investigators regularly, and "people have come to us with alternative stories since day one."
"If any other evidence comes up that we need to amend, we will do so," Fowler said. "From day one, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the medical examiner was very comfortable calling it a homicide."
There's "nothing we see that would indicate anything else."
"We can always amend if we have to."
Suiter was on duty at the time he was shot, investigating a prior triple killing in the neighborhood.
There have been no arrests in the case, despite a $215,000 reward for information leading to one.
Davis disclosed publicly last week that Suiter had been scheduled to testify the day after he was killed before a federal grand jury in a police corruption case involving Sgt. Wayne Jenkins _ one of eight members of the department's Gun Trace Task Force who have been indicted on federal racketeering charges.
"The circumstances surrounding Detective Suiter's killing are significantly complicated by the fact that he was to appear before a federal grand jury the following day," Davis wrote in his letter to the FBI director. "I am growing increasingly uncomfortable that my homicide detectives do not know all of the facts known to the FBI or (U.S. attorney's office) that could, if revealed to us, assist in furthering this murder investigation."
"I respectfully request the FBI to investigate the murder of Detective Suiter," Davis wrote.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors filed a new indictment against Jenkins, alleging he duped Suiter seven years ago into finding drugs that Jenkins had planted in a man's car.
Jenkins has not entered pleas in the cases against him. Several other members of the Gun Trace Task Force have pleaded guilty.
Davis on Friday said he had suspended another officer involved in the 2010 case, who is identified in court records from the original arrest as then-Det. Ryan Guinn. Guinn has declined to comment on the case to The Sun.
Davis said a sergeant also involved in the original arrest retired in 2012.
Police have maintained that Suiter's intended testimony was not related to his shooting. Davis said Friday that FBI and federal prosecutors have told him they also believe there is no connection. Still, the timing has led to swirling speculation around the case.
City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Councilman Brandon Scott, chair of the public safety committee, had called on police to turn the investigation into Suiter's death over to the FBI.
"An independently conducted investigation would be the quickest way to provide the public and those who loved Det. Suiter with the answers they rightly deserve," Young and Scott wrote in a letter Thursday to Davis.
Davis said he had already made the decision to request the FBI take over the case days ago, but was waiting for Suiter's funeral, which was held Wednesday, before he discussed it with Suiter's family.
Davis said he did not feel that the request had to be made immediately because the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been involved in the case from the beginning assisting the Police Department.
He said he believes the Police Department will remain involved in the investigation even if the FBI agrees to take it on as the lead investigating agency.
