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2 Security Officers In Critical Condition After On Duty Shooting

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Shot on duty. A gun battle erupts outside a large townhome community and ends with bullets striking two private security guards. Those two officers are recovering Friday night while police actively look for the person who pulled the trigger.

Weijia Jiang shows us what police are doing to find the gunman.

Both victims are recovering at Johns Hopkins in critical, yet stable condition.

Police scour the Oak Hill townhomes in North Baltimore for witnesses and traces of evidence to answer how a wild gun battle unfolded.

Two security officers in uniform were shot Thursday night. A 32-year-old female guard was shot in the right eye, and a 38-year-old male guard was shot in the torso.

"It hurts your heart when you really know somebody," said Elisha Bartee, victim's friend. "She's just out trying to do her job. She got family. She got children."

Bartee says she often spent time with the female victim, who worked long hours patrolling the complex.

"She tell me make sure I be safe," Bartee said. "I was just talking to her the night before that happened."

Now police are aggressively looking for whoever pulled the trigger. Officers canvassed the neighborhood Friday night and passed out fliers, urging anyone with information to come forward.

"We're certainly going to be checking area hospitals for anyone showing up there with gunshot wounds," said Baltimore police commissioner Fred Bealefeld.

That's because investigators believe the male victim returned fire. Both guards work for the Assured Protection security agency. They don't have police powers, but they carry guns.

Maryland State Police licenses private guards who must go through certified handgun training and extensive background checks, including from the FBI.

"They gotta protect themself," said Dolphus Holloway, Oak Hill resident. "There's crazy people out here."

Police have yet to release the victims' identities.

There is a cash reward for good information.

For now police don't know how many gunmen were involved or what led to the shootings.

The townhouse complex and the company that employs the guards have not returned phone calls from WJZ.

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