Officer Fired

A drug raid at a West Baltimore "shooting gallery" -- so-called because thousands of hypodermic needles were found inside -- culminated with a man being shot in the face after rushing at a police officer with a syringe, authorities said.Police said Lassiter Miller Jr., 37, of the 3000 block of Walbrook Ave. was shot in the right side of his face by the officer, who feared he would be stuck with the needle."The officer was concerned for his own safety because of the AIDS virus, and he told him to put down the needle," said police spokesman Sam Ringgold.

A Baltimore City police officer was shot and a stolen car suspect killed by another police officer early today in the Highlandtown section of Southeast Baltimore. The name of the wounded officer and that of the dead suspect were not immediately available. Details early today were sketchy, but police said an officer assigned to the Southeastern District stopped a car in the 600 block of S. Highland Ave. near Foster Avenue about 12:35 a.m. The officer believed the car was stolen and was attempting to remove the driver from the car when the driver pulled a gun and shot the officer at least once in the leg. Other police who had arrived on the scene as back-up units pulled their service semiautomatic weapons.

A man who was shot during a gunbattle with city police officers in East Baltimore on Sunday night died yesterday morning, a Police Department spokesman said. The man, whose identity was not released pending notification of relatives, was pronounced dead at an area hospital at 1:45 a.m., said the spokesman, Officer Troy Harris. The man was shot about 10:15 p.m. when two members of a tactical unit responded to sounds of gunshots in the 3100 block of McElderry St. and saw two men shooting at each other.

An Anne Arundel County police officer shot a man who allegedly tried to run him over during a traffic stop in Severn, the fourth time this year a county police officer has shot a suspect. The officer, whose name has not been released, stopped Calvin Fitzgerald Johnson, 41, of Bowie about 11:50 p.m. Sunday near Pine Cove Avenue and Town Center Boulevard on suspicion of driving under the influence. The officer, a three-year veteran of the department, requested Johnson's license and registration.

An alleged robber was shot and critically wounded last night by an off-duty Baltimore police officer working security at the Pay Less Shoe Source at Mount Clare Junction shopping center, investigators said.A man entered the store in the 1200 block of W. Pratt St. shortly before 7 p.m. and announced a robbery, apparently not realizing that the officer was there working security, police said.An employee handed the man cash and, while his attention was diverted, the off-duty officer pulled his pistol and announced he was a police officer, said Officer Sabrina Tapp-Harper, a police spokeswoman.

A Baltimore police officer shot and seriously wounded a woman who lunged at him with a knife in the doorway of a Northeast Baltimore house yesterday afternoon, police officials said. The woman, described as being in her late 40s or early 50s, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was listed in critical but stable condition. Police declined to identify her or the officer involved in the shooting. Police said the incident began about 2:55 p.m. when at least one officer responded to the home in the 2200 block of Hamilton Ave. for a domestic problem.

An off-duty Baltimore police officer was put on administrative leave yesterday after he shot a 16-year-old boy while trying to subdue a dog in East Baltimore.The 46-year-old officer, a patrolman in the Southeast District whose name was not released, was stripped of his police powers pending an investigation this week by the state's attorney's office, said Agent Ragina L. Cooper, a police spokeswoman.The incident occurred about 7 p.m. yesterday in front of the Stop, Shop and Save in the Church Square Shopping Center at 929 N. Caroline St., Cooper said.

Baltimore police officer Shean D. Camper was found not guilty of manslaughter yesterday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed suspect in May.Officer Camper, 24, cried after the Baltimore Circuit Court jury announced its verdict. He stood behind the trial table and embraced his sergeant from the Northeastern District and as he left the courtroom, exchanged hugs with fellow officers, his mother and his aunt."It was like a release of all the emotions I built up over the whole ordeal," the officer said later.

A man who police said aimed a handgun at an officer after a foot chase was shot 10 times and killed yesterday on a trash-strewn lot in a drug-ridden pocket of West Baltimore.The man, who was not immediately identified, was shot in numerous parts of his body and declared dead at the scene shortly before 2 p.m.Although police said the man had threatened the officer with a gun, witnesses said the man did not produce a weapon.Residents in the Franklin Square community also said that scores of police officers have swarmed the area in recent months and used "heavy-handed" tactics in an effort to rid the neighborhood of drugs.

An off-duty city police narcotics officer, working as a securit guard at an apartment building in the 1900 block of Eutaw Place, shot a gunman late last night in the courtyard of the building.The officer, Hayes Ball, 32, assigned to the narcotics section at police headquarters, was not injured.According to police reports and spokesman Agent Doug Price, Officer Ball was in the lobby of the Eutaw Garden Apartments around 11 p.m. when a female tenant told him that someone was firing a gun outside.