Maryland: Police shoot man in face after traffic stop in southwest Baltimore
Police said the incident began around 11 p.m. after they received multiple calls of hearing gunshots near the intersection of Augusta and Frederick avenues, which is not far from Mount St. Joseph High School.
"Twenty-five police cars, (there was) about 50 police (officers) and it was a whole bunch of people and they were screaming that the police had shot a guy and that they were wrong and people were saying, 'Where's the ambulance? Where's the ambulance?' It was just a whole lot of chaos out here," witness Betty Henry said.
Henry said it all scared her. Police said the officer shot a suspect in the face. They have not identified him, but Koren Robinson said it is her 26-year-old son, Korey Minor, who lives just blocks from where it happened.
"I was told he was shot in the right side of his face, lower face," Robinson said.
Police said it started with reports of gunshots in the Irvington neighborhood. They stopped a suspicious car on Collins Avenue and officers approached.
"The driver of that vehicle put his car into reverse and drove it in reverse at a high rate of speed and hit an open door of a police car and that door slammed against our uniform patrol officer and pinned him against the door post of that car," Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said.
The officer fired at the suspect and struck him in the face, police said.
Police said the suspect then took off in the car, but was stopped again by officers nearby. At that point, police said, he held his hands in the air, surrendered and stated that he had a gun, which officers recovered.
Davis said the officer pinned in his car was treated for minor injuries on the scene. The suspect was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The family said the man was undergoing surgery at Shock Trauma. He has not yet been charged.
Police said there was a passenger in the suspect’s car, but he fled from the scene and has not been found.
Police said fearing for his life the officer fired a shot hitting the driver, who drove off, but surrendered around the corner at Frederick and Augusta avenues, telling officers there he had a gun. A crowd gathered as police began investigating and working to keep the area secure.
"It's an emotionally charged moment when the community experiences something as significant as a police-involved shooting," Davis said.
But some in the neighborhood claim after the shooting they witnessed the suspect getting kicked.
"He just came from like the back. Did like this (shows kicking motion)," Irvington resident Shawn Hamm said. "'Don't you run from me.' Blood started running out of his mouth out of his throat."
Davis said he had not heard anything, accusing the officer of kicking the suspect and the entire encounter is under investigation.
Two people at the scene were arrested by officers for disorderly conduct, police said.
Davis said the entire encounter is under investigation.
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