Police: Go Fund Me Pages For Family Of Slain Cop Not Authentic
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — As of Friday morning, the family of Sean Suiter, a Baltimore homicide detective who was fatally shot Wednesday, has not set up a GoFundMe page. But according to police, some unauthorized accounts have been created.
Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith tweeted "The Suiter family HAS NOT set up a Go Fund Me page. Any pages that are purportedly for Det. Suiter are fake."
According to our media partners at The Baltimore Sun, a spokesman for GoFundMe says it's not unusual for individuals who see a news event to want to help by creating a fundraising page for the families.
Bobby Withorne from GoFundMe says when an account is created "funds are collected by our payment processors, held, and then released only to the person named as the beneficiary. Before any money can be withdrawn, the beneficiaries must accept the donations. If they accept the donations, their information, including their banking information, will be verified by our payment processor."
Withorne says no funds have been withdrawn and the company has reached out to the campaign organizers and law enforcement officials to make sure any funds raised go to the detective's family.
The fatal shooting of Detective Sean Suiter happened Wednesday afternoon on the 900 Block of Bennett Place while the detective was investigating a 2016 murder with a partner.
The suspect is still at large. There is a $169,000 reward for information that leads to the shooter's arrest. If you have any information on his whereabouts, you are asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, City Homicide at 410-396-2100, Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-Lockup, or you can send text tips to 443-902-4824.
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