A car-theft suspect was shot in a confrontation with a Baltimore County police officer yesterday after running away from an accident, forcing his way into a nearby house to find a knife and threatening to kill himself, authorities said.
The man, whose identity was not known, was listed in critical condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
The events were tracked in calls to the county police -- the first about 7 a.m. for a report of a maroon Hyundai Elantra being stolen from the 400 block of Maple Forest Lane in Catonsville; the second from Gladys Louise Green, 33, of West Baltimore, after the Elantra had rear-ended her car on Security Boulevard at Kernan Drive.
Police said the suspect fled on foot, turning up minutes later at a house in the 5400 block of Dogwood Road, where he encountered 10-year-old Travis S. Edwards taking out the trash.
"He walked up to me and asked me in a real soft voice, 'Do you have a knife?' " said Travis, a fifth-grader at Edmondson Heights Elementary School. "I just started walking really quickly toward the door. When I turned around, I didn't see him."
But the man was there, and he shoved his way inside and ran up the stairs screaming, "I want a knife. Can I have a knife? Please, can I have a knife?" Travis said.
Travis ran down the hall to wake his grandfather, Solomon Floyd Sr.
"I woke up and heard all this commotion," said Mr. Floyd, 56. "I thought I was dreaming or something, but the man kept yelling that he wanted to kill himself. He grabbed the knife on my drawer and kept raking it across his wrist."
Police said Mr. Floyd wrestled the knife away from him. Mr. Floyd said the man ran out of the house, fell on Dogwood Road in front of an oncoming car and then jumped onto its hood when the driver backed away from him.
The suspect was running toward Security Boulevard when Woodlawn Precinct Officer John P. Thomas spotted him near Kernan Drive. Police said the man went down an embankment, with Officer Thomas in pursuit. Witnesses said Officer Thomas shot the suspect after the man lunged at him, police spokesman E. Jay Miller said.