A 61-year-old man who was shot by police and was facing multiple attempted-murder charges was found dead in his cell at the city jail over the weekend, corrections officials said.
Phillip G. Holland was found about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, said Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Vernarelli said the cause of death appeared to be suicide by asphyxiation, and internal investigators were reviewing his death.
Holland had been held since late January on multiple charges of attempted murder. On Jan. 27, officers were staked out at Union Memorial Hospital to serve a warrant on Holland, who was being sought on charges accusing him of stabbing a woman outside a Hampden convenience store.
Police said Holland charged Detective Michael Dressel with a knife and was hit with a Taser. Dressel then pulled out his service weapon and shot Holland in the left leg. Police said Holland continued in the direction of another officer, Lt. Michael Rosenblatt, who used a Taser on him. Holland was disarmed, fell to the ground and was placed under arrest.
Holland had been in and out of prison most of his life, most recently sentenced to five years in prison for theft in Baltimore County, and released 21 months later on parole.
He faced two counts of attempted murder against Dressel and Rosenblatt, as well as one count of attempted murder in the stabbing of Gina Miller outside a Hampden Royal Farms store Jan. 16.