Baltimore Police Commissioner Responds To Concerns That Delays Serving Warrants Cost Man His Life

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore police commissioner Michael Harrison defended the delay in serving search warrants in cases involving an 18-year-old suspect now charged with murder.

WJZ was first to report on concerns over the delays in serving two warrants involving Sahiou Kargbo that allowed the teen to remain free. During that time, he is accused of killing the husband of a Baltimore Police lieutenant.

Our exclusive reporting Monday revealed a judge signed a warrant to search the Northeast Baltimore home of Sahiou Kargbo on Friday, January 21st in connection to a violent armed robbery in Baltimore County earlier in the month. But that warrant was not served until Wednesday, January 26th.

Police believe the day before, on January 25th, Kargbo killed James Blue III as Blue waited outside of a home he purchased as an investment property for a refrigerator to be delivered.

The union representing Baltimore City police issued a scathing response Thursday calling the "delayed service of a search warrant at the home of the alleged murderer of James Blue repulsive."

The union went on to say, "The fact that Mr. Blue's death might have been prevented but for scheduling issues and payment of overtime makes the policymakers at the top of the Baltimore Police Department responsible. The warrant service was delayed due to the ill-fated policies of Police Commissioner Harrison. Law enforcement isn't some business where you can deny overtime and expect the work to continue without any effect. We are in the business of public safety and there is no price tag for the safety of our citizens."

Commissioner Harrison defended the response in a message to officers obtained by WJZ.

He acknowledged, "We have been posed with many questions from the media regarding our warrant response… These are fair questions and for the sake of transparency, we must answer them."

Harrison went on to write, "Baltimore County personnel and Baltimore City personnel communicated, coordinated and agreed to the execution date of Tuesday, January 25. However, it was determined there needed to be more planning between the parties before executing the search warrant. At the request of Baltimore Police Department SWAT, the parties agreed to execute on Wednesday, January 26. This decision was made to ensure the safety of the members of the public, the suspect and the officers executing the warrant. Second, this was a search and seizure warrant and not an arrest warrant. We would not have ordinarily changed schedules to call people into execute a search warrant. As you know all too well, we call people into work for any number of situations. Unfortunately, in this instance, there was no information presented or inferred that exigent circumstances existed, which again meant that it would not have risen to a level that would require us to call people in. Third, the department did not execute the Baltimore City arrest warrant issued on December 28. The three charges listed were all misdemeanor offenses and the detectives prioritize their efforts and serving warrants for incidents such as homicide and non-fatal shootings. These are the facts of the situation,  and we will communicate what took place because that's our job, and it's the right thing to do."

Harrison wrote, "I firmly stand by the decisions as well as the decision makers…."

The commissioner declined an interview request with WJZ Friday.

Baltimore County police said it took time to coordinate with City police and internally before serving the warrant.

Here is a more detailed timeline of the warrant execution from police in Baltimore County:

• Judge received and signed the No-Knock Warrant on (Friday, 01/21/22 at 0935hrs)
• Completed search warrant, with all necessary signatures was emailed to Sgt. by Cpl. later that same day, (Friday, 01/21/22 at 10 a.m.)
• Friday, 01/21/22, at noon – call requesting the operation be moved to Wednesday, 01/26/22, due to QRT's leave days being changed at the last minute
• Saturday, 01/22/22 – Leave Day for Baltimore County Robbery
• Sunday, 01/23/22 – Leave Day for Baltimore County Robbery
• Monday, 01/24/22 – Leave Day for Baltimore City QRT
• Tuesday, 01/25/22 – Originally Scheduled day for operation. Changed at the request of QRT
• Wednesday, 01/26/22 at 0400hrs the No-Knock was executed.

Baltimore County police union president David Folderauer wrote in a statement:

"I do not understand why the message has been about scheduling and not working Saturdays and Sundays. My members work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Detectives are able to respond in on weekends, on evenings, in the middle of the night. They took an oath. They will do whatever it takes to get felons off the street in spite of personnel shortages and low morale issues."

According to charging documents in the armed robbery case, police used surveillance video and records subpoenaed from the rideshare company Lyft to tie Kargbo to the crime, where he is accused of putting a semiautomatic handgun to the head of a worker at a Wendy's restaurant in Parkville on the morning of January 6th.

Kargbo also had an open warrant in Baltimore City for the discharging of a firearm. The incident happened in November and the warrant was authorized on December 28th. It was never served. City police note that the warrant was for a misdemeanor.

"There are plenty of arrest warrants for violent criminals just waiting to be served because the best cops in the nation are told to go home because there will be no overtime paid. Violent crime cannot be fought this way," wrote the Baltimore city police union in their statement. "People will be killed, and criminals are left to victimize others while the BPD conforms to ridiculous orders from above."

WJZ has also exclusively reported on the motive in James Blue's killing. Multiple sources said the homicide was a case of mistaken identity. They said Blue was killed because the suspect was suspicious of why he was just sitting in his car talking on his phone for so long, even though Blue was only waiting for a refrigerator to be delivered.

The victim's son was on the phone with him at the time of the killing. He later wrote about those terrifying moments in a tribute to his father on GoFundMe.

"You didn't deserve to be murdered in broad [daylight] waiting for a refrigerator. You would take my little siblings to the fixer-upper house all the time. You were minutes from leaving to go watch lil bro play in his basketball game. You were minding your business when you were mistakenly identified a street over from your mother's house and murdered.… I heard 20 shots on the phone, but I couldn't believe that they were at you…"

In:
• Baltimore City