BART Police Mourn Officer Killed in Accidental Shooting by Partner

Photo Credit: Eric Risberg / Associated Press

Photo Credit: Eric Risberg / Associated Press

A day after the first Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer was killed in the line of duty in the agency’s 42-year history — gunned down accidentally by a fellow officer — the department struggled to come to terms with the loss of Det. Sgt. Tommy Smith.

“We’re in shock, disbelief, we’re numb, we’re grieving,” BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey told reporters at BART’s Oakland headquarters, describing the 23-year veteran who headed the detective unit as “very supportive of his personnel, just a really really happy guy, a family man.”

Smith, 42, is survived by his wife, Kellie, a BART police officer who heads the department’s K-9 unit, and their 6-year-old daughter. Rainey said he had also met with Smith’s mother and two brothers, both in local law enforcement, at the Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where he thanked the medical staff for “everything they did to try to save Tommy’s life.”

“Tommy was a great law enforcement officer but an even better son, brother, husband, father and friend,” said Rainey, who choked back tears. “He touched many lives.”

Investigators provided few details of what took place inside the Dublin apartment where Smith and his team were conducting a probation search Tuesday afternoon.

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