City police officer suspended in connection with 13-year-old girl's death

BALTIMORE - No mother should be staring at her daughter's death certificate; no parent should be planning the funeral of their 13 year old, but as a Northeast Baltimore family struggles through intense grief, yet another detail emerges making this all the more unimaginable.

"I feel sick to my stomach because every time I hear bits and pieces...it's terrifying," said slain teen Monae Turnage’s mother Edith

It is even more terrifying because today Baltimore Police Department Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi says the BPD suspended an off-duty officer for his “conduct” after the shooting death of Monae Turnage.

Turnage's family says the older sister of one of the juveniles charged yesterday with involuntary manslaughter has a relationship with that officer and believes the cop advised the boys after the accidental shooting death; Monae’s body was later discovered beneath trash bags in an alley.

"How do you do this?  You're talking about a 13 year old kid.  12 and 13 year old children that did something and you covered it up.  Where's the justice in this?" asked Monae’s aunt Paulette Marshall.

Justice is a process city police say they are taking seriously and are pursuing.

While the department says it cannot comment on details about the suspension or respond directly to the family’s claims, it is working to trace the gun the boys were playing with as well as investigating the beliefs of the Turnage family.

A claim Monae's mother believes makes sense.

"Because I don't think they would know how to drag a body outside and cover, although they can see that on the news but still, I think somebody in there, something else happened.  Some kind of way something happened.  Somebody advised them to do this," said Edith Turnage.

An emerging gap in an already tragic story that could very well be explained by either an internal or even criminal investigation.

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