Investigators recovered the gun of a slain Baltimore homicide detective from the gritty lot where he was shot and have determined that it was fired more than once, a top police official said Friday.
Ballistic tests show that recovered shell casings were matched to the recovered firearm, Commissioner Kevin Davis told a news conference at police headquarters. When asked if it was possible that the officer was shot with his own gun, Davis said authorities are "looking at every possibility."
"We only recovered one gun from the scene. That doesn't mean that there wasn't a second gun," Davis said.
An autopsy has not been completed for Sean Suiter, an 18-year veteran of the department, the commissioner said. Suiter, 43, died at a hospital Thursday, less than 24 hours after he was shot in the head while working on a case in West Baltimore, a rough neighborhood of vacant lots and boarded-up row houses.
A vigorous manhunt and a hefty reward that stood at $190,000 Friday has not led to any arrests. But Davis said tips are steadily coming in and detectives are following leads. Baltimore investigators are being assisted by federal agents.
Davis said the shooter, who investigators suspect was wounded in the confrontation with Suiter, is likely in Baltimore. Police plan on keeping blocks of the West Baltimore neighborhood where the shooting happened cordoned off through the weekend because evidence is leading detectives to conduct searches there.
Officials say Suiter was a Washington, D.C, native who lived with his family in York, Pennsylvania, about an hour's commute from Baltimore.
