Ten years after Baltimore Police Lt. Owen Sweeney was fatally shot in the line of duty, supporters gathered in Dundalk to remember the man they called “a dedicated public servant” and a “loving human being.”
An officer for 29 years, Sweeney, 47, was killed May 7, 1997,while attempting to serve a petition.
A mentally-ill suspect shot him in his lower back through a door and he died in surgery.
“Those of us who were working in the department remember that day clearly,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said. “It all comes rushing back. The shock. The horror. The sadness.”
Sweeney is survived by his wife, Elaine, and two sons, Frank and Owen. On Monday, dozens of friends, family members and fellow officers gathered at Baltimore County Community College in Dundalk to honor Sweeney by laying a wreath at a memorial garden dedicated to him.
“All of us wanted to be Owen Sweeney,” Hamm said. “All of us wanted to be the leader that he was. All of us wanted to be the man that he was. All of us wanted to find and marry a woman like Elaine, because she understands service and what service is all about.”
Supporters described Sweeney as a lieutenant who routinely worked in the field with officers.
Former Baltimore Police Lt. John Draa, of Gov. Martin O?Malley?s Office of Crime Control and Prevention, said he admired Sweeney as a “dedicated public servant and, more importantly, as a kind, loving human being.”
“He was a passionate and dedicated police officer who gave of himself every day on the job, not because he had to, but because he loved doing it,” Draa said.
“Owen?s watch is not over. It never ended. It continues on in the many lives of those he touched.”
