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Officers Shoot Man Who Reportedly Pulled Gun During Behavioral Crisis Call In NE Baltimore, Police Say

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Police officers shot and critically injured an armed man during a behavioral crisis call in northeast Baltimore early Wednesday morning, the Baltimore Police Department said.

The shooting happened inside a home in the 5800 block of Falkirk Road around 3:25 a.m.

Police said a resident called them to the area due to a relative who was having a behavioral crisis. When they arrived, officers said the 911 caller let them into the home. The relative was in the basement at the time.

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At some point while they were with the man, he reportedly pulled a firearm from his waistband. Two officers then pulled out their own weapons and shot him several times.

It's unknown exactly how many rounds were fired, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during a press conference early Wednesday.

"We don't know the extent of the conversation or the engagement," Harrison said. "Only that there was engagement that led to the subject producing a firearm and the officers firing at him."

The man was taken to a local hospital where he was in critical condition. Officials said the man is still in critical condition, but has been stabilized.

Harrison said that before the man was taken to the hospital, the officers searched him and found another firearm in his pants pocket.

One of the officer's body camera footage will have to be downloaded at another location in order to be viewed, Harrison said. He has not viewed any body-worn camera footage yet.

The department's Public Integrity Bureau has taken over the investigation into the shooting.

No officers were injured in the incident.

Following the shooting, the ACLU of Maryland released a statement calling the incident a "disturbingly familiar pattern" of Maryland communities being too reliant on police officers for mental health cases.

The full statement reads:

"Amid a nationwide reckoning about police violence and senseless killings of Black people, Baltimore police report their overnight shooting of a young man whose family called for medics and the police came instead. In Maryland, this has become a disturbingly familiar pattern – where officers called to assist someone in mental distress instead trigger a crisis, failing to see the person's humanity and shooting instead of helping. This latest incident further points out how Baltimore's over-dependence on police is setting them up to fail, and costing unnecessary lives. The BPD must release the full body camera footage and there must be a full, transparent investigation, with details about how the investigation is handled released to the public.

"This is why the ACLU of Maryland and more than 60 other organizations across the state are demanding that the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights be repealed. Under LEOBOR, it is almost impossible to hold police officers accountable for misconduct and excessive use of force. This is why the groups are also calling for return of the Baltimore Police Department to the control of the residents of Baltimore City, so there is local control over policies on creating and calling for a crisis support team to be used in mental distress calls, instead of just armed police, and to control use of force policies and practices to avoid unnecessary injury and death. And this is why we are calling for reform of the Maryland Public Information Act to allow transparency to the public about investigations into police misconduct and brutality.

"These demands must be met. State Legislators can't post statements about #BlackLivesMatter and then not pass police reforms that begin addressing the systemic problems in police which devalue Black lives and the lives of people with mental illnesses. #BlackLivesMatter"

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