The suspect is dead, and a woman and a police officer are injured, in a shooting in East Baltimore late Wednesday night.
Baltimore Police say the man suspected of trying to run over an officer and shooting at another this week is dead after he was shot by police around 11 p.m. Wednesday during an exchange that left an officer and a woman injured.
Lmfaooo Baltimore always got some shit wit us but I gotta love my city 😂😭💯 pic.twitter.com/jj29rWKJZT
— tayyfromthetrap (@tayyfromthetrap) August 29, 2019
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said in a media briefing at 1:30 a.m. Thursday that the unnamed suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital after he was struck by gunfire by responding officers.
Harrison said the suspect is believed to be the man who tried to run over a police officer and fired at another early Tuesday morning while trying to stop a silver SUV that attempted to strike another officer in the 2400 block of Reisterstown Road.
Harrison said the suspect’s vehicle is the one that was used during the attacks on the officers Tuesday.
— Baltimore City FOP (@FOP3) August 29, 2019
The commissioner said officers encountered the suspect at Fayette and North Caroline streets and that officers began firing at the suspect. Harrison said he did not know whether the suspect fired at officers, but added he was believed to be armed.
Harrison said that after the exchange, the suspect got back into his vehicle and drove down Caroline Street as officers chased him.
The suspect then stopped at a second location about a block away, where officers again fired at the suspect, Harrison said. The man was struck and was brought to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Harrison said.
A woman was injured during Wednesday’s incident, but Harrison said it was unclear whether she was hurt by gunfire or the resulting shrapnel. She and the officer are in good condition, Harrison added.
The Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police said in a tweet Thursday morning that the injured officer was released from the hospital. The FOP said the officer had been shot.
“He is a hero along with all of the officers involved in last night’s incident,” the tweet said. “Their bravery was unwavering. More needs to be said about this incident and the current condition of our city, but for now just be proud of our BPD heros.”
Hours after the shooting, the scene was still flooded with police. Detectives scoured the scene and placed evidence markers throughout several blocks ringed by crime scene tape. Around 7:45 a.m. Fayette Street had reopened to traffic.
Neighbors walked their children to school through the otherwise quiet streets.
Kenny Best, 55, who lives in the neighborhood, said he wasn’t surprised by the shootout and described the area as “up and down.”
“Can you imagine if it happened now?” he said. “All these kids walking to school. I don’t even want to think about what could have been.”
Best, who works at the nearby Living Classrooms, was sending directions Thursday morning to employees for how to get to work. The organization has an office on the corner of the crime scene’s intersection at North Caroline and East Fayette streets.
“The shut down streets and traffic is a nightmare,” he said.
Harrison said there were two warrants for the suspect’s arrest.
The department has not yet reviewed any body camera footage or interviewed any of the officers involved, Harrison said. He added the internal investigation into the officer-involved shooting is underway, but that the number of officers who responded makes it difficult to review all relevant body worn camera footage.
“What we know is that that subject was, in fact, armed. There is a gun that is on the scene that we are recovering,” Harrison said.
Harrison also confirmed that police were investigating a shooting late Wednesday night on East Monument Street.
As for the two shootings, Harrison said they speak “to the culture of violence” the city is experiencing.
“We’re not backing down from it,” he added. “We’re going to find who’s doing this and we’re going to hold them accountable as well.”
(The Baltimore Suns McKenna Oxenden and Lillian Reed contributed to this article.)
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