Five days ago, Det. Sean Suiter, a married father of five and an 18-year veteran with the Baltimore Police, was patrolling the streets of West Baltimore around 5pm last Wednesday when he saw suspicious activity. Suiter approached a man and was shot point blank in the head, in a summary execution. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition where he later died of his injuries.
Rest In Peace Detective Sean Suiter https://t.co/NiKIdmzbAD pic.twitter.com/l7vkrOKjMv
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 16, 2017
In response, Baltimore Police reacted with ‘fire and fury’ turning the neighborhood where Suiter was shot into an “open-air prison”, shutting down city streets and enabling checkpoints for citizens while officers in tactical gear went door to door, according to Baltimore Brew. Residents were prohibited from entering their own neighborhood unless they showed proper identification, these extreme measures have been in place for 4-5 days.
“They’ve been to my house three times asking, ‘Did you hear anything? Do you know anything,’” said Edward Stanley, a local resident, who had to show a yellow slip before entering the neighborhood.
Baltimore Brew said, the neighborhood was tuned into “open-air prison”, as the complete lockdown was in attempt to collect evidence and search for the shooter.
Police initially said they needed to cordon off the area to try to capture the shooter. Police have said Suiter was in the 900 block of Bennett Place, investigating a previous homicide, when he was shot on Wednesday. So far, no arrests have been announced in the case. This morning, homicide detective Mike Newton told The Brew that the lockdown was necessary to collect evidence.
One community group took pictures of a checkpoint in West Baltimore.
#FreeWestBaltimore pic.twitter.com/P61qoDLHnq
— Baltimore BLOC (@BmoreBloc) November 19, 2017
15 @BaltimorePolice vehicles on Schroeder alone and dozens more on surrounding blocks. All the officers are just sitting in their cars. pic.twitter.com/M9zCCltdzK
— Baltimore BLOC (@BmoreBloc) November 19, 2017
Another twitter account describes how ‘the police declared marital law’, as one police officer with an assault rifle guards a corner.
And apparently police been standing on corners like this the last two days pic.twitter.com/y9Qrd2TSRe
— Pulla (@KINGDACEO) November 17, 2017
Citizens describe how their day lives have been disrupted as West Baltimore remains under police control, as per Baltimore Brew:
Two women walking down Franklin Street to get to their cars, parked blocks away because of the lockdown, complained that they had been harassed by officers.“They know I live here. They’ve seen me come and go. But this one had to pat me down. He [the officer] went like this to my jacket, grabbing it,” said Shelly, 25, who asked that her last name not be used.
“They wanted to know where I had been. Why do I have to tell him that? It’s just me in my flip-flops trying to go to my own home.”
“We haven’t been able to get our mail for four days,” said the woman with her, Samantha, 50, who also asked not be identified. “Is the city going to pay the late fees on my bills?”
“It’s so sad what happened to the officer and I hope they catch whoever did it,” another woman said. “But this is really overboard. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The ACLU of Maryland released a statement yesterday, who are “troubled by reports that some persons entering or leaving the area have been subject to pat down searches, and that non-residents have been barred from entering the area”.
“While the search for a killer is, of course, a high priority for the police, the limits on lawful police behavior do not disappear even when engaged in that pursuit. And at least one federal appellate court has said that a similar police cordon and checkpoint system was unconstitutional.“The residents of Baltimore, and, in particular, the residents of the affected community, deserve a clear explanation from the City as to why this unprecedented action has been taken, what rules are being enforced, and why it is lawful. The need to secure a crime scene from contamination to preserve evidence does not, on its face, explain the wide area to which access has been restricted for days after the incident.”
On-the-ground information is scarce to those outside the cordon because access to residents, including by the media, has also been restricted. For that reason, we encourage anyone who has this kind of information to contact us at curtis@aclu-md.org.
WBALTV11 visited one checkpoint in West Baltimore:
West Franklin Street is back open to traffic.
Police plan to release the West Baltimore crime scene Monday morning #WBAL pic.twitter.com/AgyDlqjWQH
— Vanessa Herring (@VanessaWBAL) November 20, 2017
According to one citizen, ‘this is the 3rd time in less than 3 years that West Baltimore has been occupied by police’…
https://twitter.com/BmoreDoc/status/932014201178124288
Baltimore Brew concludes by saying the Baltimore Police will “clear the crime scene” on Monday, so in a few hours.
Perhaps in a preview of things to come, the 4-5 day siege of West Baltimore by Police has been described by one resident as ‘Martial Law’. Readers concerned about social tensions in the US are urged to monitor events in Baltimore, which better than Chicago or Detroit now demonstrates just how the United States is marching straight into a new, Orwellian era.
so, when was the police given the authority to declare ML? (never..so i call BS, and if they were really calling it ML./.., than they are LIARS!)
and I worked security before, and If my CO saw that last picture? video where they are all standing together , he woulda had a coronary, one of his biggest pet peeves (with good reason) was that you never aggregate like that .. he would yell at us if more then 3 of us were in one area like that ..His saying was “1 grenade would take you all out” !!!
than he would yell “F^@ken spread out !!!” ,, followed by..”if you want to talk to him get his phone number and call him on your time”!!!
https://twitter.com/BmoreDoc/status/932014201178124288
Oh and ..hahahah dont even get me started on that dope standing on the street corner ..vulnerable from all his blind sides and direct front on too.. that guy would get dropped so fast his name would hurt
oh and the detective that got dropped,, well he looks like a punk
so the guy that dropped him probably thought he was a typ Ni%%er punk looking and asking for trouble , chances are his mouth wrote a check his ass didnt have the muscle to pass
“so, when was the police given the authority to declare ML?”
No need to, EotS.
It’s been in effect since 1863.
true , sorry , stupid of me
My comment wasn’t meant to be demeaning in any way, EotS, I was merely pointing out the obvious redundancy of declaring something that has never been rescinded to begin with.
I never intentionally clown any of the regular posters, unless they actually DO say something stupid (which most are FAR too well-informed to do anyway).
All the more reason to be armed and ready. How’s that gun control working out for you? I guess the bad guys all have guns now, huh?
Dumbasses.
“Suiter approached a man and was shot point blank in the head,…”
Now THAT’S what I call GUN CONTROL!
“… shot point blank in the head, in a summary execution.”
EXACTLY WHAT SCUMBAG jEWB#TCH TRAITORS DESERVE!!!!!
“Baltimore Brew said, the neighborhood was tuned into “open-air prison”,…”
News flash: THE WHOLE F%&KING COUNTRY’S AN OPEN-AIR PRISON!!!
Killing one cop was a good start, but obviously, there’s a lot more of the Lord’s work to be done in Baltimore.
Is someone who lives in Baltimore a Balti-moron?
The detective wore no body camera, of course;………… a good and bad thing………… A) The public will never know what kind of crooked, corrupt, violent, abusive, (he was alone, so wasn’t on official business) things he was doing at that moment;and B) The shooters identity is completely unknown to the police; because there is no camera footage to identify him; or her; for that matter. As far as the people whining about the cops entering their homes and searching without a warrant; did YOU greet those “Home Invaders” with a hail of bullets as they breached your threshold; I didn’t think so. So shut the f-k up! If you didn’t stand up for; or exercise your rights; you have nothing to complain about.
8500 deaths from firearms a year roughly. 85% are suicides, meaning, they would have hung themselves without a gun as an option. 8500- 7225= 1275 deaths per year. 83% of those are black on black crime. 1058 of these deaths are preventable with a massive deportation “Denig” program. Now, I’m not talking about black people here, I’m talking about niggers, you know, the people black people hate worse than white people do……
We built Liberia for them and just look at what they did to it. Know anyone from Monrovia? Yeah never met one either, no more airplanes, wonder why? Democrats are going to get us all killed if they ever get into office again.
I’m a libertarian but, Yeah, YOU BET YOUR ASS I SUPPORT TRUMP!
The alternative was everyone you know under the age of 35 killed by Russians, Chinese, and Persians in Syria and Europe wiped off the map in 6 months, and they can do it. I’ll take the groper(s), ridiculous tweets and some butt hurt fags for next 50 years please. If anyone believes this NK nuclear war shit, you are beyond reasoning with and don’t understand the mad man tactic which has worked for centuries. I laugh harder every time he says something about NK, hilarity at the reactions, mostly at them showing how the media controls their emotions, and the Pentagram…..
My Father did business with several of his friends and it is well known he is incredibly smart, insanely shrewd, and 4 moves ahead of most everyone. He even tells his staff to say he’s insane in closed circles on purpose. It’s JFK missile crisis stuff with a different personality implementation. Everyone needs to grow up, stop watching TV, and let the man do his job, at least he loves his country. I’m speaking to anyone that doesn’t patronize this site of course, but, there are a few here. And yes, I hate that he’s a zionist in public, however, he knows to keep his enemies close and I wouldn’t be suprised at all if something were to happen where he would dissolve the US and Israeli relationship completely in the future. No, I’m not joking. Chapter 11 those maniacs in 7 if he could. They are the thorn and he knows it. Don’t believe the Jerusalem talk, and his daughter, and her shilock husband. Telling you, it’s not the way it seems. Go back into presidential history and look at every presidents words about Israel “after” they left office. Trumps will go down in public history over Israel. If he gets shot, it will have been the zio-dual-citizen, self-chosenites. Peace.