An armed homicide suspect was killed after he allegedly shot two Baltimore city police officers on a US Marshals task force serving him a warrant outside of a mall. Gunfire broke out shortly before 8.30am on Tuesday at Security Square Mall in Baltimore County’s Woodlawn community, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as a 32-year-old man, had a warrant out for his arrest for murder and handgun possession charges, the Daily Mail reported. The officers searched for the suspect in connection with a homicide in Baltimore on June 19, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.
Upon seeing the suspect in the mall parking lot, the officers approached him. At that point, the man fired at them, hitting one cop in the leg and the other in the leg and arm. The cops fired back at the suspect and struck him.
‘What we saw today was exactly what officers go through,’ Harrison said. ‘These are the most dangerous situations imaginable, but they did their job with bravery, with courage and with professionalism.’
The cops sustained what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to the University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore County police spokeswoman Joy Stewart said.
Meanwhile, the suspect was hit by at least one bullet and was taken to a different hospital, Stewart said. Police subsequently tweeted that the suspect was dead. His name has not yet been released.
The injured city police officers were on the US Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, which arrests fugitives in the Baltimore and Washington, DC, area. The offenses are typically related to violent crimes.
Following the incident, a section of the mall parking lot was closed off with crime tape. Police officers gathered evidence around a pickup truck with bullet holes through the driver’s side window as well as the windshield.
About two dozen cops, first responders and authorities were at the scene near the entrance of Tokyo Seafood Hibachi Grill & Sushi. A helicopter could be heard flying overhead.
While part of the parking lot was cordoned off, the shopping center remained mostly open.
Baltimore’s police commissioner visited the trauma unit of the University of Maryland Medical Center but the condition of the wounded cops was not immediately disclosed.
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