Steuart Pittman
Role at the time: County Executive of Anne Arundel County
Mixed or conditional
Statement summary
In a statement to the press that he reprinted in his January 2 weekly letter, Pittman said federal law enforcement operating "without the traditional notification of local police and often without identification" is "a recipe for violence", said "We do not know the facts of the case yet", and said the county would investigate the shooting as it does all shootings in the county.
“This is exactly the kind of incident that I and my peers across the country have dreaded. We have federal law-enforcement operating in our jurisdictions without the traditional notification of local police and often without identification. It is a recipe for violence, and that is what we experienced in our county today. . We do not know the facts of the case yet, but will be investigating it as we do all shootings in our county. ... All that really matters in this case is that all government employees, including myself, adhere to the law, learn the facts, and uncover the truth.”