Police Still Searching For Person Who Murdered D.C. Officer In Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The person who murdered a Washington D.C. police sergeant in west Baltimore remains on the loose, and the ATF is offering a $10,000 reward for information to catch this killer.
Police say Tony Mason Jr. was on Elgin Ave. in a parked car with a woman, who sources say identified herself as his girlfriend, when a gunman approached them and opened fire.
She survived, but sources say she is terrified the killer will strike again.
Nearby resident Robert said he heard the gunfire from his window, and at least one of those shots hit and killed Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department sergeant Tony Mason Jr.
"Police was up and down the street for two or three hours or more," Robert said. "It sounded so loud. It was rapid three and then two. Boom, boom, boom -- boom, boom. Like that.
Mason was with a woman in a parked car when they were ambushed a block from Gwynns Falls Parkway, not far from Coppin State and Mondawmin Mall.
This happened just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, and police aren't saying much about the woman who was in the car with the sergeant. She survived after being shot in the leg.
Mason's cousin says he was a former Marine, father of four, and he loved being a cop.
"It's just hard to figure out why he would lose his life in this way," said James Grayton. "He lived in Baltimore, and he commuted back and forth. That's what he wanted to do."
The killing came during a ceasefire in Baltimore, with activists urging people to put down the guns.
It's now the third year in a row that more than 300 people have died on Baltimore's streets.
Last week, the mayor said stopping the killings is a priority.
"It's like having an emergency plan. You can't tell everybody all of the plans, but I can tell you we're intensely focused on reducing violence in this city," Mayor Catherine Pugh said. "And that there are meetings going on every day around violence reduction."
The number of murders in Baltimore has surpassed much larger cities, like New York and Philadelphia, that have yet to hit 300 this year.
"And I think we're about to make a record here. I guess everybody is carrying guns," Robert said.
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