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Baltimore Police Investigating After Officer Failed To Respond To Call For Armed Man

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore Police are investigating after an officer failed to respond to call about a man with a gun.

According to police officials, the dashcam video shows firefighters driving around the city when they allegedly see a man with a gun. The suspect then allegedly placed the gun in the bushes.

"I'm going to present to you something I find particularly disturbing," Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said ahead of showing the dashcam video.

You can hear the firefighters on the dashcam video say, "Oh, he has a gun."

"He just threw it in the bushes," the firefighter said, after a man in a white shirt and black shorts walks across the street in front of their vehicle with what looks like a gun tucked in his waistband.

Warning: Video Contains Vulgar Language

St. Paul Incident 7.6.18 by Baltimore Police on YouTube

The firefighters then can be heard calling 911 twice to report the incident.

While they wait for police to arrive, you can see the suspect re-approaches the median area where he tossed his gun and look for it.

The firefighters drove around the corner and flagged down a female officer that was near the scene.

"Hey, can you help me out?" the firefighter asks the officer in the video. "There's a guy who just dumped a gun. I just called it in twice, but it took them forever to respond. Right there at St. Paul and Lexington."

However, she stated it wasn't her district and didn't respond.

"Sir, right now I'm going back to the station. You called it in? This isn't my district. Call them.' the officer said.

Tuggle found out about the video over the weekend after it was brought the the attention of the department's internal affairs office.

"We've got a responsibility -- if you wear this uniform and this badge, it says Baltimore City, you have a responsibility to serve this city," Tuggle said.

"Everybody in this city deserves a police service that is responsive," he added. "If we're not doing our jobs then we need to be called to account."

Other city police officers did respond to the call, police said.

Police are not aware of any violent crimes in that general area, city police spokesman TJ Smith said.

The gun was recovered after an area canvass in the daylight, Smith added later.

Just last week, USA Today published an article saying police in Baltimore stopped noticing crimes following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray -- and since then crime has surged.

This story is developing. Stay with WJZ for the latest. 

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