Officer William S. Kern, 46, was found guilty of
reckless endangerment when he shot police recruit Raymond Gray
By Jessica Anderson
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — Baltimore Police Officer William S.
Kern will serve two months in prison for shooting and critically wounding a
recruit during February training exercises at the shuttered Rosewood Center in
Owings Mills.
Kern, 46, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in
prison with all but 60 days suspended. A Baltimore County jury found him guilty
in October of reckless endangerment for shooting University of Maryland police
recruit Raymond Gray Feb. 12.
Jurors did not find Kern guilty of the more
serious charge of second-degree assault.
Kern had testified he thought he was holding a
"simunitions" training pistol that fires paintball-like cartridges.
He said he was showing trainees how dangerous it can be in real-life situations
to congregate near doors, windows and hallways, when he fired at a door with a
glass window and struck Gray.
Prosecutors said Kern should not have been
carrying the weapon because city police guidelines prohibit live weapon at
simunitions training.
Baltimore police say commanders were not aware of
the exercises and that the city did not have permission to use Rosewood for
training.
Gray, of Baltimore, lost sight in one eye and was
hospitalized for months before moving to an out-of-state rehabilitation center.
