'Not...An Ambush': Police Commissioner on Man Who Shot at Officers

Baltimore, MD — The man fatally shot by police after firing on a group of officers in west Baltimore Thursday night was "well known to law enforcement," according to Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Dayten Ernest Harper, 33, had a rap sheet including attempted murder charges, a handgun violation, robbery, assault, carjacking and drug distribution—a "violent repeat offender," Davis said.

Four detectives encountered Harper at 9:20 p.m. on Thursday. They were riding together in an unmarked police car when they heard the sound of gunfire and pulled into a parking lot in the 2300 block of Winchester Street, where they saw Harper armed with a long gun, Davis said.

Harper opened fire on the police from 50 yards away, and two officers returned fire, according to Davis.

"We still don't know why he shot at us," Davis said Friday afternoon. "We are not at this moment categorizing this as an ambush."

After the gunfight, police said Harper ran from the apartment's vestibule into the wood line, where he left his gun, and was taken into custody when he returned to the apartment building.

It took 85 minutes to rescue Harper from the area, which Davis said was a "hot, active [crime] scene."

Police received information that there was possibly a second shooter in the stairwell of the apartment building, according to Davis. SWAT and the Baltimore Police tactical vehicle responded to assist.

The weapon used to fire at police also made officials cautious; the AR-15-style rifle was capable of hitting people at long distances, and its ammunition can penetrate patrol officers' body armor, Davis said.

"We're lucky we don't have four dead cops today," Davis said. "Guns like this, ammunition like that certainly concerns all of us."

While a memo had gone out from the FBI on Thursday indicating gangs may be targeting police in Maryland, investigators determined there was not a connection between Harper and that particular warning, Davis said.

"Last night, there was a guy outside shooting a gun. Cops heard it. They went to investigate it, and they were fired upon by a bad guy," Davis said.

"That's not the first time that's happened in Baltimore or elsewhere. It happened last night," Davis said. "And the fact that it happened on the very same day that this warning came out from the FBI and Maryland Crime Analysis Center, we think right now is just coincidental."

The two officers who returned fire on Harper were a 16-year and a 6-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, officials said. They were not identified and are on routine administrative leave pending an investigation. The other two officers are providing information as witnesses, according to Davis.

While one police officer was wearing a body camera, he had not turned it on, Davis said.

"When you're met with gunfire as suddenly as our police officers were met," Davis said, "he simply did not have the time to turn on his body camera."

Screenshot from Baltimore Police/Periscope.