Baltimore County police on Thursday identified the off-duty police officer working as a security guard who shot a 14-year-old boy in what the department has called an accidental shooting.
Police said Officer Temple, assigned to the Woodlawn Precinct and a 12-year veteran of the department, will remain on administrative duty while detectives investigate the shooting. A police union agreement prevents Baltimore County from providing officers' first names.
Police said Temple and a second officer also working off-duty as a security guard were called by management at the Woodridge apartments in Randallstown to check out reports of people inside a vacant apartment. When Temple and the second officer arrived, police said they saw a teen on the balcony. Temple had his weapon drawn and was pointing it toward the balcony when "his weapon discharged accidentally," the department said in a statement. The second officer did not fire.
A police spokesman said Temple did not immediately realize after his weapon discharged that he had struck anyone. The teen ran out the back of the unit to his home nearby.
Officers were called to the apartment complex to the 9600 block of Southall Road, and several minutes later to 9600 block of Button Buck Circle, where the teen had run.
The department has not released the boy's name because he might be charged for being in the vacant building.
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