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.
Lt. Timothy G. Keel said the shooting occurred after Officer Darryl DeSousa, 30, a six-year police veteran assigned to the mounted unit, attempted to conduct an interview near the intersection of Baltimore and Gilmor streets.
As the officer attempted to search the man, he ran toward the rear of houses in the 1600 block of Frederick Ave., the lieutenant said.
The officer chased the man on foot to a littered lot behind a vacant house where the man unsuccessfully tried to scale a fence, Lieutenant Keel said. Then, the lieutenant said, the man pulled a chrome-plated Smith and Wesson 9 mm handgun and aimed at the officer.
The officer fired numerous shots, several of them striking the man, police said. When the man did not go down and still appeared to threaten the officer, he was shot several more times, Lieutenant Keel said.
xTC Police said the officer fired about 13 shots at the man, with 10 bullets hitting him. No shots were fired at the officer. Police said the man's loaded semiautomatic handgun was recovered at the scene.
Cocaine was found near or on the man's body, Lieutenant Keel said.
Western district police have targeted the area of the shooting because of high drug trafficking, said Officer Sabrina V. Tapp-Harper, a police spokeswoman. In the last month and a half, mounted officers have patrolled the area, she said.
Residents said, however, that officers have been overzealous in their efforts to make drug arrests.
Corey Williams, 20, who lives on nearby Mount Street, said officers seem to stop anybody at random.
"They make you get down on the ground and lie with your face on the cement while they go through your clothes," Mr. Williams said.
Although officers recovered a handgun, witnesses said the man never pulled it. They said the man threw loose change as he ran, but did not pull the gun.
"With all of them officers, he wouldn't have tried to shoot at one of them. That would be like suicide," said one woman, who asked not to be identified.