Mayor Orders Independent Review Of Shooting
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore's mayor is promising an independent investigation into the Sunday morning police shooting that left two people dead, including one of the city's own plainclothes officers.
Derek Valcourt has more on the review and possible changes in police policies.
Right now, city detectives are investigating the actions of their own co-workers. The mayor wants an unbiased third-party to review the case, and suggest policy improvements to keep it from happening again.
Officer William Torbit Jr. was on duty and in plainclothes when he responded to the Select Lounge early Sunday morning to help break up a fight just outside the door. Other city officers arriving on the scene apparently saw someone shooting a gun and opened fire, not realizing that person was one of their own officers.
The shootings killed Torbit and bar patron Sean Gamble, 22, and wounded four others after five officers fired a total of 41 shots.
The city police investigation is expected to take three weeks.
"I want to get to the bottom of it, and so do the rest of the people of the city," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
She ordered an independent investigation into the shootings Wednesday.
"We are doing it for a couple of reasons, 1) because we want to know exactly what happened and 2) because we want to make sure we learn from this incident. If we need to change our policy, if we need to change our procedure, we are going to do that," said Rawlings-Blake.
One policy change already in the works: plainclothes officers may now be required to wear uniforms or some sort of clothing that obviously identifies them as police.
Meanwhile, family and friends have been grieving the victims and planning funerals. Torbit will be laid to rest with full police honors next Wednesday at Cathedral of Mary our Queen.
The mayor says so far no decision has been made about which outside police agency will conduct the independent review.
The officers involved in the shooting that night are on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
