Officer Fires Shot At Robbery Suspects After Citizen Alerts Police To Crime

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Two armed robbery suspects are in custody after an alert citizen told an officer about a robbery in progress Tuesday morning.

According to police, an officer was flagged down by someone at 8:45 a.m., after they noticed something suspicious near Moravia and Harford Roads, which turned out to be an armed robbery in progress.

Police say a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old in a red Nissan Xterra parked on the sidewalk, went into a business as it was opening, and tried to rob the liquor store.

That raised the first red flags outside Harford Road Liquors.

"I thought it was an accident initially. Because you know, why would a car just pull up on the sidewalk? And then once I seen the cops run in the way they did, I knew something was wrong," said witness Sean Wheatley.

Police said two suspects held the owner at gunpoint.

"The owner of the business was actually telling them that they can't park on the curb when they forced her inside the business and started the robbery," said T.J. Smith of the Baltimore Police.

That's when police said the duo started stealing cash, while holding Dalip Dharam's wife at the end of a gun.

"He had a gun, he had a gun. When she walk in, he put a gun by she neck. That's what she told us," said Dharam, the victim's husband.

Meanwhile, someone walking by saw the getaway car and realized something wasn't right and then proceeded to flag down an officer.

"The suspects went in, he made several demands of them to surrender, and it didn't happen instantaneously. A shot was fired," Smith said.

The responding officer, a 16-year veteran, fired one round, which hit a refrigerator.

Both of the suspects were armed with handguns, according to police, and one surrendered, while the other barricaded himself in the refrigerator/freezer area.

That suspect surrendered after a short standoff.

"There is no doubt in my mind that if not for this Baltimore police officer we would have a much, much more serious incident on our hands," said Baltimore PD Commissioner Kevin Davis. "So I just can't thank him enough for being in the right place at the right time, and acting courageously."

Police have not released the names of the two suspects or what charges they might face.

It was later found that the Xterra had been reported stolen about two weeks ago.

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