By Reginald Williams
Special to the AFRO
On Aug. 9 the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) released body-cam video of the fatal Aug. 5 police shooting of William Gardner. The shooting took place on North Stricker Street in West Baltimore. Gardner was pronounced dead at the scene.
Brian Nadeau, deputy commissioner of the public integrity and compliance bureau, insinuated at the Aug. 9 press conference that Gardner, 17, appeared to have pointed his gun at the officers.
“While they gave chase, you can hear them say, ‘He’s still holding, he’s still holding,’ which is indicative of someone with a firearm,” explained Nadeau. “And you can see when they caught up to him, he has the firearm out. You can see it on the shadow of the building; also, when he turns towards the officers you can see he has the firearm out.”
The BPD identified Gardner’s gun as a CZ 7 9-millimeter.
The body-cam footage shows Det. Devon Lomax and Det. Sharif Kellogg pursuing a fleeing Gardner in their cruiser. As he runs away, one officer screams, “Get on the ground. You’re gonna get shot,” while the other yells, “Get on the ground. I will shoot you. I will shoot you.”
As they exit the vehicle, police do, in fact, shoot Gardner multiple times.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office Independent Investigations Division identified Lomax, Kellogg and Det. Thomas Smith as the officers responsible for firing the fatal shots. According to Nadeau, the officers tried to resuscitate Gardner before the medics arrived.
“This truly a tragic incident and the investigation is ongoing,” said Police Commissioner Richard Worley. “We recognize any use of force by law enforcement lends itself to high levels of public criticism and concern. We take those concerns very and are committed to continued conversation with the community.”
Police officials report that the officers, all members of a Group Violence Unit working on behalf of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, were in the area investigating a shooting that occurred between two groups approximately an hour before Gardner’s death. The unit has a heavy presence in the southwest and western corridors of Baltimore because of an upsurge in violence and robberies. There are questions from the community asking if Gardner was one of the people in the group shooting before his death, but Worley stated they did not have that information.
On several occasions during the press conference, Worley and Nadeau communicated that when the officers initially approached Gardner, he demonstrated the “characteristics of an armed person.”
According to Nadeau, per department policy, the body-cam video has been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights.
The officers who discharged their weapons have not made a statement. They will be placed on administrative duties and referred to the department’s health and wellness program.
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