Credible Threat: Gangs Threaten to 'Take Out' Cops

Some of the country’s most notorious gangs have banded together to put ”hits” out on police officers nationwide, the Baltimore Police Department announced Monday, citing a threat it described as “credible.”

“The Baltimore Police Department/Criminal Intelligence Unit has received credible information that members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods and Crips have entered into a partnership to ’take-out’ law enforcement officers,” according to the statement.

The Baltimore police encouraged law enforcement agencies nationwide to take appropriate precautions.

Police departments in Pennsylvania say they are monitoring the situation.

The Easttown Police Chief David Obzud said he did not receive a direct alert from the Baltimore Police Department, but the recent altercations has officers extra vigilant, even in a relatively quiet community.

“These days we have all been exercising a little more caution then was needed in the past,” said Obzud. ”But our community has always been good about supporting us.”

Baltimore Police called for backup over the weekend, when a national rally against police brutality took place in the city in the aftermath of the April 19 death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old Baltimore man died in police custody from a mysterious spinal injury, which has prompted a week of demonstrations.

Over the weekend, the Nation of Islam facilitated a truce between rival gangs the Bloods and the Crips, who united in the rally against police brutality, according to The Daily Beast.

The protests in Baltimore on Saturday had started peaceful—and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said 95 percent of them were in that spirit—but by Sunday morning, 34 people had been arrested and six police officers injured. Storefronts and police vehicles were also damaged. Images captured on social media of the violence included video of a man smashing a patrol car window with a trash can and angry protesters yelling directly in the face of officers.

Both peaceful protests and the acts of violence follow other high-profile cases of police-involved deaths in the past two years.

In 2014, Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. The officer involved was not charged because he argued he was defending himself from the unarmed Brown. Also in 2014, an unarmed Eric Garner died after a police officer put the large man in a choke hold during an arrest for allegedly selling illegal cigarettes.

Earlier this month, a North Charleston, S.C., police officer fatally shot Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was running away. The officer had claimed self defense until a video surfaced showing the officer shooting Brown multiple times in the back as the victim tried to run away. The officer in that case, Michael Slager, has been charged with murder.

This is a developing story and will be updated.