PERRY HALL, Md. — A 16-year-old charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Maryland police officer has been ordered held without bail by a judge who called him a “one-man crime wave.” Police say officer Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio was killed Monday when the teen burglary suspect, who had been awaiting his accomplices outside a Perry Hall home, ran her over with a Jeep.
More than 20 police officers were in the Towson courtroom Tuesday when Dawnta Anthony Harris of Baltimore made his first court appearance by video. Harris has been charged as an adult.
Caprio, 29, was a four-year veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department.
Prosecutor William Bickel says investigators have reviewed the slain officer’s body camera footage. He says it clearly shows Harris accelerating the stolen Jeep at Caprio after she was trying to apprehend him on the suburban cul-de-sac where a burglary had just taken place.
Harris, who was arrested near where a Jeep was found abandoned, told a detective he had been waiting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle as other associates of his were in the process of committing a burglary, according to the probable cause statement.
Harris also told the detective that he “drove at the officer,” the statement said.
Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence Sheridan said Caprio died of trauma she suffered when the car struck her. He said she had not been shot. Witnesses had earlier reported hearing popping noises.
A medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide, he said.
Sheridan described the 29-year-old officer as smart, athletic and energetic, and said he believed she showed the potential to one day be a leader in the department.
“When it’s snuffed out like this, you have emotions that make you wonder what’s really going on out there,” Sheridan said.
In December, Caprio won the “Officer of the Month” award for the Parkville precinct. Her investigation led to the identification and arrest of two suspects in numerous package thefts in eastern Baltimore County and neighboring jurisdictions.
Speaking on radio station 105.7 The Fan, Caprio’s husband Tim Caprio said, “I’m just still grieving. I don’t know, I just feel like talking about it is definitely better than not.”
Bickel detailed Harris’ numerous recent run-ins with the law, including a series of auto theft arrests and a history of running away from juvenile facilities.
Three other teens believed to be the suspects involved in the burglary were arrested Tuesday at their homes in Baltimore city following a manhunt. A prosecutor said he believes his office has a case to charge them with felony murder, though they were not in the car when Caprio was killed. The charge is reserved for suspects who commit a dangerous felony during which a death occurs.
The records don’t list an attorney for Harris, and attempts to people believed to be his family members were not immediately successful.
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