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Police Identify Officer Who Fatally Shot Knife-Wielding Man

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Baltimore police have identified the officer who fatally shot a knife-wielding man who had been threatening to kill members of his family.

Police on Monday identified the officer as 30-year-old Donald Gaff. Police say Gaff has been on the force since 2013 and is assigned to the Neighborhood Patrol Bureau.

Police say Gaff was on routine patrol Saturday night when he responded to people yelling for help outside a house in southwest Baltimore and was told a man was threatening relatives with a butcher knife.

Police say Gaff confronted the man, who refused to drop his weapon, and fired one shot that struck the man in the chest. The man died at the hospital.

Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez called Gaff's actions "courageous."

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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