Off-Duty Cop Kills Suspected Shoplifter In Seat Pleasant: Police

SEAT PLEASANT, MD -- No charges have been filed after an off-duty police officer shot a suspected shoplifter to death earlier this week at a business in Seat Pleasant.

Police were called to a store in the 400 block of Eastern Avenue at around 2:18 p.m. on Wednesday to a report of a shooting, and found 49-year-old Joseph Dance of Riverdale suffering from a single gunshot to the abdomen inside the business, according to a report from the Prince George's County Police Department. He later died at the hospital.

"Preliminarily, PGPD detectives have determined that Dance had shoplifted a couple of items from the store when he was confronted by a store employee," the report states. "The employee is a licensed Special Police Officer and carries a current permit to carry a handgun. He was in plainclothes with his badge displayed and his weapon was holstered on his hip and was visible."

The employee stopped Dance to investigate, and Dance began to repeatedly punch and assault him, "at which time, for reasons that remain under investigation, the employee discharged his firearm one time striking Dance," the report continues.

There were numerous witnesses and store video of the incident, police say, and the employee has not been charged. However, the investigation continues.

Image via PGPD