A gunman with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire on four plainclothes police officers in an unmarked car Thursday night in West Baltimore, police said.
Two of the officers shot back and killed the man outside apartments on Winchester Street in Bridgeview-Greenlawn.
The officers were drawn to the apartments on the 2300 block by reports of gunfire. Police said the man was shooting before they arrived about 9:30 p.m., then turned his rifle on the officers.
Into Friday morning, police were investigating whether the tactic was an attempt to lure police. The officers weren't injured, and no other victims were found.
"Why he was firing initially? Who he was firing at? That's something we don't have the answer to," said T.J. Smith, a police spokesman.
The two officers who fired back were placed on routine administrative duties. At least one officer shot the man in his upper body, police said.
Police released no details about the gunman Thursday night. He opened fire from a distance, 60 to 70 yards, Smith said.
Once shot, he ran to a second floor landing in the apartments, where he was found. He had stashed the rifle, police said, in the woods behind the apartments.
The gunfire rang out on a hot night and sent neighbors running. Police blocked off surrounding streets for hours as they searched for a second possible shooter. Residents were turned away from what officers warned was a dangerous scene.
Police later said they believe the gunman acted alone.
Baltimore Police have shot nine people in 2016 including the fatal police shooting Thursday night.
In those incidents, four people have been killed by police and five were non-fatally shot. A gun was present by the suspects in five of them, along with a 14-year-old boy who was shot in April while carrying a BB gun police wrongly believed was a semi automatic pistol, according to Baltimore Sun reporting at the time.
Baltimore Sun reporter Wyatt Massey contributed to this report.