4 teens arrested after killing of Baltimore County police officer

PERRY HALL, Md. (WBAL) – All four teenagers sought by police after the killing of a Baltimore County police officer Monday are in custody, WBAL reports.

Dawnta Harris, 16, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of Officer First Class Amy Caprio, charging documents state. Three teenage males were also taken into custody, police said Tuesday morning.

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Caprio was responding around 2 p.m. to a call for a suspicious vehicle on Linwen Way in Perry Hall. Charging documents state that a 911 caller reported a suspicious vehicle in the area.

Charging documents said Harris admitted that he "drove at the officer" when she told him to get out of the Jeep while his associates burglarized a house.

"He admitted that he partially opened the driver's door, but then shut it and drove at the officer," the charging documents state.

A source familiar with the case said the officer's body camera video gives a clear view of her standing in street as the vehicle comes at her. She fired one shot and got hit by the vehicle and was thrown.

Caprio was critically injured and was taken to MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, where she died around 2:50 p.m.

The Jeep was found abandoned in the 9500 block of Dawnvale Road, close to where Caprio was struck, charging documents state. About a block away from the Jeep, police officers found a teenager matching a description of the driver provided by a 911 caller. The teenager was later identified as Harris, charging documents state.

Harris is being held at the Baltimore County Department of Corrections, and is expected to appear for a bail review Tuesday afternoon.

Harris is from Gilmor Homes in west Baltimore, a public housing complex well known because of the Freddie Gray case.

Sources tell I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller that Harris has a record of car theft in the juvenile system.

Police said detectives verified that the suspects were involved in burglaries in the area. Officers will be in the area Tuesday to canvass for property stolen during the burglaries.

"Harris admitted that he had been waiting in the driver's seat of the Jeep Wrangler as other associates were in the process of committing a burglary," the charging document states.

Sources said that the Perry Hall house was apparently targeted by the suspects, who believed there were guns inside.

Police said Caprio would have marked four years with the Baltimore County Police Department in July. She is the 10th officer and the first woman to die in the line of duty in Baltimore County police history.

Schools in the area were placed on alert status for hours Monday afternoon before they were dismissed in the early evening. Schools opened as scheduled Tuesday morning.