Police after-action report on Brooklyn Homes shooting, due tomorrow, may not come out until mid-September
BREW EXCLUSIVE: Pushed-back date would mean that the public would not get an accounting of what Baltimore police knew and did in the hours before the shooting for at least another month. UPDATED.
Above: Mayor Brandon Scott on a community walk at Brooklyn Homes last July, with members of the Executive Protection Unit in the background. (Brew file photo)
The Baltimore Police Department’s “after-action report” on the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting – promised to be completed by tomorrow (August 15) – has been delayed and may not come out until mid-September, The Brew has learned.
That pushed-back date would mean a month-long wait before the public gets to see any detailed accounting of what Baltimore police knew – and how the agency responded to warnings that an annual block party was spiraling out of control – before gunfire erupted among about 800 outdoor guests at the Brooklyn Home housing project on July 2.
“I have not seen it, but I know it’s supposed to be completed and talked about at the September 13 hearing,” Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, whose district includes Brooklyn Homes, told The Brew this morning.
Two other sources, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the report is now due at that time.
The September 13 date refers to the second public hearing scheduled before the City Council on the deadly shooting.
UPDATE: The Police Department issued a statement to The Brew after this story was posted, saying it has completed “a draft” of the after-action report, and the draft will now “be shared with several internal and external stakeholders for final revisions.”
The statement gives no specific date for the report’s release, saying that “it will be publicized in accordance with BPD and the Mayor’s Office.”
During an initial hearing last month, Porter and Council President Nick Mosby expressed “deep disappointment” that police, the Housing Authority of Baltimore (HABC) that operates Brooklyn Homes, and the mayor’s violence reduction office offered “no new information” about the mass shooting that killed two people and wounded 28, most of them teenagers.
No one has yet been charged with murder or attempted murder in connection with the tragedy, the biggest mass shooting in the city in recent memory.
Five weeks ago, a 17-year-old was charged with possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment and inciting a riot after social media appeared to show him pulling a gun from a backpack at the party.
His attorney said the boy, who was shot in the leg amid the crossfire, was carrying a toy Orbeez gun.
Baltimore policeman at the Brooklyn Homes site on July 2 where two were killed and 28 wounded hours earlier. (AP)
Promise: 30-45 Days
At the July 13 City Council hearing, Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the after-action report would be ready 30-45 days after the July 2 incident.
He said the BPD’s Compliance Bureau would look at body-worn camera footage, review radio communications, examine text messages and conduct individual interviews to determine “who knew what and when, and what decisions were made or not made by whom and why.”
He said the report “will be a public-facing document,” adding, “We will produce exactly what we have because that is the only way we’re going to grow as a department and as a city.”
Mayor Brandon Scott also promised the report within the same time frame.
“I said to the commissioner the night of the shooting, ‘I want this [the report] done right way and right now,’” Scott told reporters at an August 2 City Hall press conference.
Scott added:
“We know that sometimes we’ve seen in the past, they [police] take two, three, four months [to complete the report]. I want us to be able to go through and know every single thing they knew, every single action that was taken, so we can respond appropriately.”
“I said to the commissioner the night of the shooting, ‘I want this done . . . right now’” – Mayor Brandon Scott.
Asked when the public can view the report, Scott said, “When I see it, you’ll see it.”
The mayor’s office did not respond today to questions about the report’s status, including when it will be completed, who exactly are its authors and when it will be publicly available.
The police media office also has not answered questions about the report.
Several members of the City Council said they were not aware that the report would be delayed.
• To reach a reporter: reuttermark@yahoo.com