WASHINGTON — Rep. Elijah E. Cummings pressed the director of the FBI on Wednesday to make the investigation into slain Baltimore homicide detective Sean Suiter “a top priority” and called on the federal agency to “do everything” in its power to help.
Cummings and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a closed-door meeting with FBI Director Christopher Wray to discuss concerns with an unrelated Aug. 3 report from the bureau that warned of a threat posed by “black identity extremists.”
Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, said he also wanted to raise the killing, which has shocked the police department and the city. Suiter was set to testify before a federal grand jury in a high-profile police corruption case the day after his killing. Police Commissioner Kevin Davis has said federal authorities have told him Suiter was not a target of the investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering assistance in the investigation, which is being led by the Baltimore Police Department.
“I asked him that they use every resource available and do everything in their power to assist the Baltimore police in this investigation and make it a top priority,” Cummings said in a brief interview following the meeting.
Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that Wray — who took over the agency in August — was “very familiar with the Suiter situation.”
Suiter was remembered Wednesday at a funeral attended by thousands.
Authorities are offering a $215,000 reward for information in Suiter’s killing, but have so far been unable to solve the case. The detective was shot with his own gun, which was recovered at the scene. Two other shots were fired from the gun, and Davis said there were signs of a brief struggle.