Crime & Safety
Officer Shot In Hand, Suspect In Custody: Baltimore Police
Police said that an officer was shot in the hand Wednesday night, hours after another policeman was buried from a Nov. 15 shooting.
BALTIMORE, MD — An officer was shot and injured in south Baltimore on Wednesday night, according to police. The suspect was in custody, officials said.
Based on the preliminary investigation, police said the officer was shot in the hand before 8:15 p.m. in Cherry Hill.
Two uniformed officers from the southern district had noticed someone who appeared to be acting suspiciously, as though he had a firearm on him, according to Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.
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The officers, who are members of a special team deployed to the city's most violent areas, tried to disarm him.
"That's a very challenging thing to do," Davis said. "The gunman made every effort...to hold onto his firearm."
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During the struggle, the gunman discharged one round that went through the palm of an officer's hand, Davis said.
The other officer used a Taser to disarm the suspect and take him into custody, according to the commissioner. The struggle, which involved at least two officers, was captured on body-worn camera footage, he said.
The shot officer was taken to nearby Harbor Hospital; and once it was determined he was stable, he was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center for further treatment, Davis said.
The 30-year-old officer is expected to survive and is "in good spirits," according to Davis, who said he and Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh visited the policeman at shock trauma before the press conference about the shooting Wednesday evening.
"Gunshot wounds to the hand can be complicated," Davis said, "but I know he's going to be OK."
The suspect was a convicted felon born in 1982 who was not allowed to have a firearm, the commissioner said.
The gunman was taken to the hospital with injuries related to being Tased, according to Baltimore Police Chief of Media Relations T.J. Smith.
The shooting of an officer in Baltimore came hours after the burial of Detective Sean Suiter, 43, a homicide detective who was gunned down in the western district on Nov. 15.
Related: Detective Sean Suiter: 'State Of Maryland Lost A Hero,' Governor Says
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