Suspect Killed In Police-Involved Shooting; Got Out Of Jail On Monday

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A police-involved shooting in west Baltimore left one man dead. Police said the 18 year old was no stranger to the law and he was just released from jail Monday.

Ava-Joye Burnett reports why police said this was a justified shooting.

The department says an officer's life was in danger. A routine patrol in west Baltimore turned deadly Tuesday afternoon.

Baltimore police said officers spotted a vehicle driving erratically. One of the passengers eventually bailed and took off down an alley. When an officer cut around in the other direction. Police said he came face-to-face with an 18-year-old man with a gun, but it does not appear the suspect fired.

"This 18 year old suspect has been arrested twice in the past month with a hand gun and he was arrested once for another incident in the past month," said Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith.

Police said the officer who was in fear for his life shot the suspect around 3 in the afternoon, near Frederick Avenue and Monroe. The suspect was pronounced dead at Shock Trauma.

"I was in shock. When everybody else hit the ground I was still standing, that's how I was in shock," Roy said, a witness to the incident.

The shooting in the west Baltimore neighborhood closed off several blocks as investigators processed the scene for hours.

The Baltimore Police Department is frustrated with the prevalence of repeat offenders and said the other people in the suspect vehicle vanished.

"You think his friends came back? You think his friends in that vehicle came back? No. They are nowhere to be found," Smith said.

Police say he previously faced felony gun and drug charges. He has not been identified.

Now the officer who shot the 18 year old will be on administrative duties throughout the investigation.There is body camera video that is under review.

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