A Baltimore Police officer escaped injury after being shot at early Tuesday morning while trying to stop an SUV that attempted to strike another officer, according to an incident report.
The report said at 1:16 a.m. a silver SUV tried to strike an officer who had stopped a car in the 2400 block of Reisterstown Road. Neither the condition of the officer involved nor the severity of the incident was noted in the report.
Three minutes later, another officer who was patrolling a little over a mile away noticed a silver SUV matching the description from the Reisterstown Road incident at an intersection in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Ave.
As the officer began to approach the SUV, the driver got out of the car and began firing a handgun, police said. The officer was able to back his patrol car away in time to not get hit, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. A 9mm shell casing was later found at the crime scene, the report said.
The driver then fled in his car with police following, the report said. After following the car through the city, a police major stopped the pursuit once officers reached southbound Interstate 295.
Harrison said the pursuit was stopped because it became a “danger factor” to both citizens and officers.
“It got to be high speed and through neighborhoods,” he said.
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CitiWatch cameras did not capture the gunfire, but it did show the SUV sitting at the intersection. It did not have any visible tags, the report said. The officer’s body-worn camera also captured the incident, according to the report.
Harrison is asking the public to call the department if they know anything about the vehicle or the man who was driving.
“We want to be able to hold people accountable and find who did this,” Harrison said. “This is an armed and dangerous person who not only willing to harm police officers but is very likely to cause harm to any other person in the community.”
This is the latest example of violent acts committed against Baltimore police officers in recent weeks. Harrison called the attacks “brazen” saying it speaks to the criminal outlook today.
On Saturday, an off-duty Baltimore school police officer and a retired state corrections officer shot and killed a 22-year-old man who reportedly tried to rob them at gunpoint. And over two weeks ago Sgt. Isaac Carrington was shot outside his home also during an attempted armed robbery in the 5600 block of Summerfield Ave.
Last month two Baltimore Police civilian employees, including a deputy police commissioner were robbed in two separate incidents in Patterson Park and Albemarle Street, respectively.