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Report: Case Involving Slain Detective, Indicted Gun Task Force Officer Reopened

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A case involving both the Baltimore Police detective who was killed last week and one of the officers of an elite gun task force indicted earlier this year on racketeering charges has been reopened, according to our media partners at The Baltimore Sun.

The case is that of Umar Burley, currently a federal inmate in a West Virginia prison, who was arrested by both Detective Sean Suiter and former sergeant Wayne Jenkins in 2010. Jenkins was the highest-ranking officer of the seven initially indicted on racketeering charges in March.

The Sun reports that Jenkins wrote in court records filed at the time of Burley's arrest that Suiter found drugs in Burley's vehicle, which was searched following a chase in Northwest Baltimore that ended with a collision that killed an elderly man.

In June, a few months after the indictment of Jenkins and other officers, Burley wrote a letter asking for the judge in his case to take another look at the circumstances surrounding his arrest. Federal prosecutors did reopen the case, according to The Sun report.

It was confirmed by police earlier this week that Suiter was scheduled to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the indicted officers on the day following his death. Commissioner Kevin Davis said authorities have no reason to believe that his death was connected to that fact.

Suiter was shot and killed with his own gun while on duty Nov. 15. The manhunt for the gunman is ongoing more than a week later. Police have not released a suspect description or name, though they have said they believe the shooter is still in the area.

A neighbor being identified as "Ellis" says he watched the incident play out from his window.

"What I heard was four shots, 4 rapid shots," Ellis said. "Detective was standing there... and he was like this: 'Sean, Sean, Sean.' Like I said, one police, I think his partner, had him underneath his arm and one had him by his legs and his calves. Then they put him in the car right here. I didn't see no suspect."

Suiter was connected to other members of the gun task force, as well, Detective Maurice Ward and Detective Momodu Gondo. Both of those men have pleaded guilty to the charges they face.

Jenkins has not entered a plea in the racketeering indictment. His trial is tentatively scheduled for January.

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