By Police1 Staff
BALTIMORE — Surveillance video released by police Wednesday night shows the fatal shooting of an officer and a civilian outside a night club.
The footage shows the fight leading up to an exchange of gunfire that killed Officer William Torbit and Sean Gamble, and injured four others in January.
Investigators believe that Torbit, who was on duty in plain clothes, fired the shot that killed Gamble, but family members question that notion after seeing the footage.
“In my whole heart, my family do not believe that my brother shot his gun off at all,” Torbit’s sister told ABC 2. “If you watch the video, you would not see him have the opportunity to pull his gun out,” she said.
Four uniformed officers shot Torbit more than 20 times, not realizing he was an officer, according to WBAL.
“In our judgment, we are making an assumption based on fact that these officers did not know that Officer Torbit was an officer, and I don’t think anyone can remotely suggest that they did. Otherwise, they would not have shot him,” attorney Gregg Bernstein said.
Last week, a prosecutor announced that no criminal charges would be filed against the four officers, and the final report of the case by an independent panel is still under way.
As a result of the shooting, Baltimore Police required all plainclothes personnel to clearly display the word “police” on their outerwear.
None of the police officers are heard on tape identifying themselves as law enforcement.