Grand Jury indicts all six Baltimore cops involved in the death of an unarmed black man

The state's attorney in Baltimore says all six officers charged in the police-custody death of Freddie Gray have been indicted by a grand jury.

State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby made the announcement Thursday. The charges returned by the grand jury were similar to the charges Mosby announced about three weeks ago.

Mosby has said Gray's neck was broken because he was injured while being handcuffed, shackled and placed head-first into a police van. She says his pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored.

Gray died in April after suffering fatal injuries while in police custody. His death sparked massive protests and rioting in the city, and inspired a national conversation about policing.

The swift, aggressive legal response to Gray's death casts it in stark contrast with other recent high-profile incidents involving police officers and unarmed black men. Grand Juries in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York both decided not to indict officers in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner respectively. As Think Progress notes, grand jury indictments of police officers are very rare.

The indictment three weeks ago caught the Baltimore police department by surprise. The Baltimore Sun reported that the police force was planning on providing Mosby with more information from their internal investigation before the state's attorney decided to indict.

Mosby is under fire for alleged conflicts of interest in the case. Last week, attorneys for the indicted officers asked a judge to recuse Mosby from the case, citing Mosby's political ambitions and marriage to City Councilman Nick Mosby.

"It is inconceivable that Mrs. Mosby was not influenced by the challenges presented to her husband as a community leader of neighborhoods that were literally 'up in flames,'" the defense said.

Baltimore is already taking steps to change its police force in the wake of Gray's death.