A city police officer shot and killed a drug suspect after the man attempted to stab another officer in the back early Wednesday in East Baltimore, according to police.
Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said two officers were arresting two suspects on drug charges about 12:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of Orleans St. in the McElderry Park neighborhood when one of the suspects got loose and "repeatedly stabbed the officer" in the back with a knifelike object. The other officer then shot the suspect several times.
The officer's bulletproof vest protected him from injury in the attack, according to Guglielmi. The officer was evaluated at the scene, and none of the cuts punctured skin, Guglielmi said. A box cutter, two knives and a substance believed to be cocaine were found at the scene, he said.
The suspect was pronounced dead at 1:36 a.m. at an area hospital, Guglielmi said. Police were trying to identify the man, whom Guglielmi described as a Hispanic adult.
The two officers have been placed on administrative pending an investigation. Under a new policy enacted this year, the Police Department would not identify the officer who fired the shots, describing the officer as a 10-year veteran assigned to the department's Monument Street corridor initiative, which was recently formed to combat a rash of violence in that area.
The shooting was the second this week involving city police. On Monday, an off-duty officer shot and critically injured a man who attempted to rob him at his Northeast Baltimore home. The officer chased the man through his neighborhood before opening fire. Neighbors said they heard two distinct sets of gunshots, and police said shell casings that did not come from the officer's gun were found in the street.
Twelve people have been shot by city police this year. Twenty-one were shot in 2008 and 33 in 2007.
