Police Sources

Federal authorities are helping Baltimore police unravel a brutal drug dispute that triggered the killings of six people Sunday and raised fears that a climate of revenge could prompt even more violence in the city.U.S. marshals are joining scores of city police searching for two of four suspects who remain at large in what is described as a race to take them into custody before they become victims of the turf war.Already, one man charged in the shootings of five women at a Belair-Edison rowhouse in Northeast Baltimore has been found with his throat slashed and remains in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital -- registered under an alias and with an armed guard.

Howard County Police Chief Wayne Livesay said yesterday that his officers were doing everything they could to solve the weekend slaying of an Elkridge mother of a young child."

WASHINGTON -- In the last journal entry that Caity Mahoney ever composed, just before her death in a triple slaying at a Georgetown Starbucks coffee shop, she recalled a conversation with her family. She was feeling guilty about having fired someone she supervised and had sought comfort in her relatives."I spoke to Mom, Dad, Ginny and my grandmas today," Mahoney wrote. "It was so good to hear their loving voices."That journal sits in the Baltimore home of Mahoney's mother, offering a small glimpse of the last days of her daughter's life.

An 18-year-old Robinwood man who was shot by an Annapolis police officer over Labor Day weekend was killed by a bullet to the center of his chest, an autopsy has found.Knowledgeable police sources confirmed yesterday that the autopsy report shows that Cochise Ornandez Daughtry was struck between the nipples by a bullet that went through his heart and one lung. The autopsy by the state medical examiner's office also found that a second bullet struck Daughtry's right buttock, sources said.Investigators say the force of the first shot spun Daughtry around.

A Howard County police sergeant is being investigated by the department after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman during his shift two weeks ago, according to several Police Department sources.Sgt. Thomas Martin, a supervisor for the midnight shift in the Columbia area, has been put on paid administrative leave while police investigate the claim, the police sources say. They spoke with The Sun on condition of anonymity.He has not been charged with a crime.Top police officials refused yesterday to discuss the accusation or provide information about the officer's career.

LOS ANGELES -- The blood type of samples recovered at the scene of a brutal double slaying match that of O. J. Simpson's blood, a potentially important piece of evidence in the investigation of the killings of his former wife and a man she knew, Los Angeles police sources said yesterday.The former football star's blood type is different from those of the two victims, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, a source said. Although even rare blood types are shared by many people, any discovery of Mr. Simpson's blood type at the murder scene could lend credence to the suggestion that he was there, sources said.

Two county police officers charged administratively with using steroids for nonmedical purposes have been suspended without pay for 25 days, police sources and officials said yesterday.Three others caught up in the same scandal have been ordered to receive counseling from their superiors, and punishments for three more have not been determined, according to Officer Terry Crowe, police spokesman.Police sources identified John Church and James Cifala as the officers who were suspended by Chief Robert P. Russell.

A county police civilian station attendant was fired and an evidence technician resigned after complaints of sexual misconduct were lodged against them last month, police sources said.According to the sources, the evidence technician made a comment about a job applicant's underwear as he fingerprinted her. After being charged administratively with conduct unbecoming a police employee, he resigned from his position May 25, the sources said.In the second incident, a civilian station attendant also was charged administratively with conduct unbecoming an employee after a female officer complained of his sexual advances, police sources said.

Two Anne Arundel County police officers charged administratively with using steroids for nonmedical purposes have been suspended without pay for 25 days, police sources and officials said yesterday.Three others caught up in the same scandal have been ordered to receive counseling from their superiors, and punishments for three more have not been determined, according to Officer Terry Crowe, police spokesman.Police sources identified John Church and James Cifala as the officers who were suspended by Chief Robert P. Russell.

A county police captain has been fined $1,000 for violating departmental policy during a high-speed chase in which officers threw fire extinguishers at the fleeing car, police sources familiar with the investigation said.Chief Robert Russell fined Capt. Richard Smith, who heads the Criminal Investigations Division, after he waived his right to a departmental trial board, leaving him open to a suspension, demotion, fine, or other punishment at the chief's discretion, police sources said.The fine is one of the largest handed down within the department in the last 10 years, the sources said.

As many as five Baltimore homicides over the past three months might be connected to the April kidnapping of two teenage boys from a Catonsville home, according to several law enforcement sources. In the past week, three people police believe are connected to the kidnapping have been slain in Baltimore in brazen daytime shootings that authorities say might be part of a continuing feud between at least two rival drug gangs. The recent slayings include the double murder of two men in their sport utility vehicle last Friday in Northwest Baltimore and the fatal shooting of a teenager in East Baltimore on Tuesday evening, according to several police sources who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris said last night that prosecutors should seek the death penalty for three men charged in the execution-style killing of an off-duty detective who was ambushed early Saturday outside a city tavern. The three - Jovan J. House, 21, Anthony A. Brown, 34, and Raymond Saunders, 23 - were denied bail yesterday during a brief hearing in District Court. All are charged with first-degree murder. The motive, prosecutors and police say, is clear: retaliation against Detective Thomas G. Newman for testifying against Saunders' half-brother, who was convicted of shooting the officer during a similar ambush in April last year.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was shot and killed early yesterday as he stepped outside a bar in apparent retaliation for testifying against two men convicted of wounding him during an ambush last year. Detectives, who described the shooting as a "flat-out execution," arrested three men in the killing of Detective Thomas G. Newman, 37, and charged them with first-degree murder. The death of the 12-year veteran sent waves of fear and anger throughout the city Police Department as officers tried to cope with the brazen attack on an officer who did nothing more than testify against those who had tried to kill him. It is the third incident in eight days in which city officers have been hit by gunfire; five were wounded.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer who shot and wounded a 17-year-old boy Thursday night was legally drunk at the time and has been suspended with pay pending a hearing on Monday, police sources said yesterday. The officer, Charles H. Carter, has fired his service weapon at least two other times and twice has been charged with crimes. He was fired from the department in 1989 after being convicted of harassment, but he was later reinstated, apparently after the case was overturned on appeal.

A city police lieutenant who was supposed to be at work was instead at a West Baltimore club packed with strippers when it was raided early Sunday by authorities who allege alcohol was being sold illegally, police sources said yesterday. Lt. John M. Mack, a 17-year veteran, was ordered to desk duty and was relieved of his gun and badge. Department sources said Mack was scheduled to work from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. supervising detectives in the Northwestern District when Ronnie's West Side Gallery, in the 2100 block of W. Lanvale St., was raided about 1:50 a.m. The sources also said that Mack's 9 mm Glock handgun was found behind the establishment's bar - a violation of the department's strict guidelines governing the proper handling of weapons.

Detectives investigating last month's burglary at a secret Baltimore police Internal Affairs office believe there is a "real possibility" that fellow officers are involved, Mayor Martin O'Malley said yesterday. He also said for the first time that the FBI "is very involved" in the investigation. An FBI spokesman said its agency escalated its role this week. O'Malley's comments are the strongest to date by a public official indicating a possible linking of the Christmas Eve break-in and apparent theft of files to police officers who might be trying to thwart corruption cases.

A suspect in the killing of a Baltimore County police sergeant during a jewelry store robbery last month was arrested after federal agents investigating an unrelated case overheard him on a wiretap trying to sell stolen watches, according to law enforcement sources. The secretly recorded telephone conversation not only led to the arrests of three other suspects, it helped police break up a suspected drug ring in raids on 49 houses, 23 arrests and the seizure of nearly 15 pounds of cocaine and heroin and $813,000.

Federal authorities are helping Baltimore police unravel a brutal drug dispute that triggered the killings of six people Sunday and raised fears that a climate of revenge could prompt even more violence in the city.U.S. marshals are joining scores of city police searching for two of four suspects who remain at large in what is described as a race to take them into custody before they become victims of the turf war.Already, one man charged in the shootings of five women at a Belair-Edison rowhouse in Northeast Baltimore has been found with his throat slashed and remains in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital -- registered under an alias and with an armed guard.

Howard County Police Chief Wayne Livesay said yesterday that his officers were doing everything they could to solve the weekend slaying of an Elkridge mother of a young child."

WASHINGTON -- In the last journal entry that Caity Mahoney ever composed, just before her death in a triple slaying at a Georgetown Starbucks coffee shop, she recalled a conversation with her family. She was feeling guilty about having fired someone she supervised and had sought comfort in her relatives."I spoke to Mom, Dad, Ginny and my grandmas today," Mahoney wrote. "It was so good to hear their loving voices."That journal sits in the Baltimore home of Mahoney's mother, offering a small glimpse of the last days of her daughter's life.