Life of The Son of First Black Woman Officer Killed on Duty Took a Shocking Turn
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Maryland Police Department Officer Gail Cobb was the first Black woman officer to be killed in the line of duty. At just 24 years old, she left behind a son who recently opened up about his experience with police since she’s been gone.
Damon Cobb told WJLA his mother was following a bank robbery suspect in 1974 when she was shot while calling for backup. That day, Cobb recalled coming back home from nursery school to find his family sobbing in the living room. The news of her killing not only shook her loved ones but the nation, being cited as a sign of increased violence, per The Washington Post. The report said a street across from her home was named after her and funds from around the country pooled in to support little Damon.
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In just six months, WJLA says he’d spent all his money. Soon after he’d lost the money, he lost his freedom.
Read more from WashPo:
Two decades later, Damon Cobb is serving a life sentence for murder in the Maryland State Penitentiary in Baltimore. He was convicted last July in the death of 21-year-old Gerald Carlton Weaver, killed outside his parents’ home in Prince George’s County. Prosecutors contended, and a jury agreed, that Cobb shot Weaver three times in the back because Weaver had allegedly burglarized the apartment of one of Cobb’s friends.
Damon Cobb will not discuss the case, on advice of his lawyer, while it is under appeal. Family members don’t believe he pulled the trigger. Still, long before his conviction, the Cobbs had coaxed, cajoled, schemed and fought in vain to save Gail’s son from what they saw as a steady downward slide. And they were left to conclude that a single bullet, fired from a gun 20 years ago, had ricocheted in directions they could never have imagined — destroying not one life but two.
Cobb told reporters he’s been in prison longer than the man who fatally shot his mother: 15 years. Cobb has spent over 40 years behind bars thus far.
It’s unclear if he will be able to make parole but his grandparents say they hope to see their grandson get his freedom before they die.
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