City prosecutors have cleared two police officers of criminal wrongdoing in a March 2010 shooting in Northwest Baltimore that killed an unarmed police informant, according to a memo released by the office.
Donald J. Giblin, chief of the Baltimore state's attorney's homicide division, said in a letter dated March 16 that a review of evidence "supports the finding that the officers fired their weapons because they reasonably believed that they and/or others were in imminent danger of suffering great bodily harm or loss of life."
The Sun reported last month that court documents show that officers made a phone call to Dennis Gregory asking where they could find his friend, Glenn Brooks. Gregory, referred to in other court papers as a "confidential informant," called back a few minutes later and told them Brooks was on a front porch in the 3700 block of Oakmont Ave.
When officers Chris Funk and Matthew Ryckman approached the house in plainclothes from an alley, Brooks fired a gun at them and they fired back. Gregory, who was unarmed, was shot multiple times and died from his injuries; his family claims he was shot in the back. Funk was also injured in the shooting.
Informed of the prosecutors' finding, Gregory's relatives said they were disappointed. They say police have refused to acknowledge their inquiries about the case, though prosecutors contacted them to set up a meeting after The Sun requested Giblin's letter.
"I'm not happy with that at all," sister Priscilla Johnson said of the prosecutors' decision. "A lot of people don't even believe he was an informant — that it's a lie the police put out."