Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Officer Derrick Shannon Under Investigation for Neglect of Duty

A Baltimore police officer is being investigated for possible neglect of duty after the family of a shooting victim said he failed to take a report about a missing person.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that the family of Marcal Walton, 33, had called police Monday morning to report him missing, but were told by a Central District officer that he would not take a report because Walton was "locked up."

The officer apparently was unaware that Walton had been found Sunday afternoon in an alley in the 2300 block of Ocala Ave., dead of gunshot wounds.

Officer Derrick Shannon, a four-year veteran, has not been suspended while he is under investigation for possible neglect of duty, said Guglielmi, who noted that the missing person call had been placed after Walton's body had been found.

Police also disclosed new details about Walton's killing. They first received a report around 2:40 p.m. Sunday that Walton had been abducted from a home in the 1700 block of Hollins Ave. near the county line, and 20 minutes later responded to the shooting, not far from Mondawmin Mall in West Baltimore, where they found his body, Guglielmi said.

Walton, who had a long record of drug arrests and a handgun arrest in Baltimore County, pleaded guilty in 1997 to a charge of drug distribution.

In 2000, Walton received a phone call from a man offering to sell stolen jewelry that helped police track down one of the killers of Baltimore County police Sgt. Bruce A. Prothero, who was moonlighting as a security guard at a jewelry store.

According to news reports, county police were able to track a call from Troy Wilson, who had offered to sell Walton jewelry stolen during a February 2000 robbery in which Prothero was shot. Wilson is serving a life sentence.

As of Tuesday evening, Walton was the city's only homicide victim so far this year. Baltimore recorded nine killings in the first five days of 2009.

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