Officer Is Critical After Shooting, $118K Reward For Info: Police

BALTIMORE, MD — A Baltimore police officer is in critical condition at shock trauma after being shot in her police car and undergoing surgery Thursday, according to authorities.

Officer Keona Holley was assigned to the Southern District and had been with the Baltimore Police Department for two years, according to Police Commissioner Michael Harrison.

While working the midnight shift in a high-crime area, she had been parked in the 4400 block of Pennington Avenue when someone came from behind her vehicle and shot inside, Harrison said.

It was a "cowardly, brazen act," Harrison said.

When she was shot, her vehicle was parked near a building, then it accelerated and returned to a resting position, Harrison said.

A vehicle of interest has been located, and police are interviewing several individuals potentially connected to the investigation, Harrison said Thursday evening.

Officers found Holley, who was injured, when they were called to the area in Curtis Bay at 1:30 a.m. for a crash, according to Harrison.

At 2:15 a.m., she was admitted to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, according to Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician in chief at the R Adams Cowley University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

At a 5 p.m. news conference, Scalea said the officer was in intensive care with life-threatening injuries after being operated on, and she remained on full life support.

"She's critically ill," Scalea said. Her injuries are "going to evolve over time" and are not going to be an easy fix, he said.

Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to come forward.

"Do you know something? Does someone that you know know something?" asked Mayor Brandon Scott at a Thursday night news conference. "For us in our community — especially the men — we have to really look at ourselves in a different way. When we have people who are shooting women, and then we just move on and allow them to come back into our homes, we have to check ourselves."

Holley is a "public servant who risked her life each and every day, who went above and beyond the call of duty," Scott said.

"She volunteered to work overtime last night, in an area where we know we're experiencing violence in the city, because she is a public servant and she's dedicated — tirelessly dedicated — to her job," Scott said. "She is a beloved colleague, mother, friend, and sister and daughter."

Holley's sister — Lawanda Sykes — said that it had been her sibling's lifelong dream to serve in the Baltimore Police Department, and in addition to being a policewoman, she was a mother.

"This has to be where it stops," Sykes said at a news conference Thursday night. "At some point, this city has to turn around. It's not just for my sister. It's for all of us."

She added: "My sister is fighting for her life, and we will continue to fight for her and with her."

There is a $118,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in what authorities described as an ambush-style attack.

Metro Crime Stoppers, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the Fraternal Order of Police joined the Baltimore Police Department in offering a $59,000 reward, which Gov. Larry Hogan reported the state was matching.

Those with information can call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-756-2587.

On Thursday morning, Hogan said the state extended assistance to the city.

"We have offered the full resources of the Maryland State Police to assist in the investigation," Hogan said, following a "despicable, ambush-style attack in South Baltimore."

Said Hogan: "I ask all Marylanders to keep the officer in your prayers."