BALTIMORE – One of the newest top additions to the Baltimore Police Department was robbed at gunpoint alongside his wife over the weekend, according to officials.
Deputy Commissioner Daniel Murphy and his wife were walking Friday night around 9 p.m. near Patterson Park in the southeast part of the city when a white SUV with four people inside pulled up next to them, police told FOX Baltimore.
Two black males, believed to be about 18 years old, then got out of the vehicle and showed a handgun while demanding the victims hand over their property, police said.
The suspects then fled with a purse, wallet, cash and multiple cellphones.
Murphy and his wife were not injured during the robbery, police told FOX Baltimore.
Murphy is listed as the deputy commissioner for the Compliance Bureau in a Baltimore Police Department organizational chart. Commissioner Michael Harrison hired him earlier this year. Murphy previously worked as the deputy superintendent of compliance for the New Orleans Police Department, where the two previously worked together, according to the Baltimore Sun.
#Breaking sources confirm a #Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner who Michael Harrison brought from New Orleans was robbed at gunpoint last night.
— JoyLepolaStewart (@jlepolastewart) July 20, 2019
Murphy was hired to oversee the Baltimore Police Department’s compliance with its federal consent decree and told the Baltimore Sun in April the two cities face similar issues.
“I think the challenges are very similar” in Baltimore and New Orleans, Murphy told the newspaper at the time. “Obviously, every community, every police department is unique, but the success we had in New Orleans is directly transferable to here and we will modify it as necessary.”
Baltimore has been working to implement a federal consent decree mandating sweeping reforms after U.S. investigators detailed lengthy patterns of unconstitutional policing and excessive force.
In addition to a police department that’s distrusted by many residents, Charm City has seen a mix of chronically high rates of violent crime. The city of Baltimore is one of the most dangerous in America, according to the FBI, totaling more than 300 homicides for four years running.
Baltimore has been in the throes of a steep rise in violent crime since 2015, when the homicide rate spiked amid the city’s worst rioting in decades following the death of Freddie Gray, an arrestee who died in police custody. In 2017, the FBI placed the city on its “Crime in the U.S.” list. Baltimore was listed well above that of any other large American metropolis, with the 342 homicides notched that year yielding a stunning homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people.
The armed robbery of Murphy and his wife is under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact robbery detectives at 410-396-2422, Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP, or text a tip to 443-902-4824.
