Police Identify Officer in Fatal Columbia Shooting

Police have identified the officer involved in a fatal shooting last week in Columbia.

Officer First Class Luke Buchanan is on official leave pending the results of an investigation, according to the Howard County Police Department.

Police said Buchanan and another officer responded to the 6400 block of Cardinal Lane, where someone reported that a man with a knife was trying to kill him.

When the officers arrived at approximately 10:40 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, there was a man with a knife in the driveway who confronted police, the report said.

Buchanan repeatedly ordered the knife-wielding individual to drop the weapon but he would not and the officer fired, police said.

Gary Carmen Boitano, 19, of Hyattsville, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

• Police Identify Man Killed in Police-Involved Shooting
• Officer Fatally Shot Man with Knife in Columbia: Police

Buchanan, an eight-year veteran of the Howard County Police Department, is on official leave as officials investigate the incident, according to police. The Howard County Police Department’s criminal investigation bureau and internal affairs division are conducting the investigation, which officials say is standard procedure.

So far, police said it does not appear that anyone other than Boitano was at the residence at the time of the shooting.

Buchanan is listed as the neighborhood community resource officer for Oakland Mills. He was also named Officer of the Year in 2011.