Officials, Business Owners React After Officer Shoots Armed Suspect On The Block In Baltimore City
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore police officer shot a suspect near East Baltimore and Holliday streets early Thursday. Police said the officer shot the suspect just moments after he pulled out a gun on a group of people and an officer.
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said that as the businesses were shutting down around 1:45 a.m. Thursday, an officer saw people arguing, and then it quickly turned physical. The commissioner said when one of his officers started walking towards the crowd, the suspect pulled a gun on the group and when he saw the officer, the suspect took off running.
"At that time the officer gave chase about halfway to the next block, the suspect turned around to the officer, who fired multiple times at that suspect striking him, that suspect, fell to the ground," Harrison said.
The commissioner said the suspect, who has not been identified, was taken to Shock Trauma for surgery and is expected to survive. The commissioner said officials also reviewed body-worn camera video from an officer who was on the scene.
The shooting happened in an area of the city known as The Block. Strip clubs are in the area and police headquarters and City Hall are within a two-block radius. Leaders called the incident was a brazen act.
"This speaks to the prevalence of guns and the willingness to use them and the lack of fear for consequences for their actions," Harrison said. "But we will prove right now that there are consequences, because now the suspect who has been shot, will face consequences for his actions."
Mayor Brandon Scott said the suspect pointed the gun towards a group of women.
"We are very lucky tonight that we don't have multiple people injured," Scott said. " In no circumstance is it OK for a grown man to point a gun at a group of people let alone a group of women. This could've been a shooting of multiple people by someone who wanted to resolve a conflict in a way of pulling out a gun."
Cheryl Leister works in a store on The Block. She said she immediately leaves after she gets off work.
"I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not," Leister said. "Who knows? People just have a blatant disrespect and no regard for human life, not even their own, because you're doing something like that you don't even have regard for your own life."
This is the second time this week Baltimore police have confirmed one of their officers shot someone who had a gun.
Around 9:18 p.m. Sunday, police say a call came in for an assault and someone who was armed in the 6000 block of Alta Avenue in northeast Baltimore. After several hours, the department said the person showed up at the door and fired his weapon and that's when at least one officer returned fire, striking the individual. That person died.
