BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore police officer was shot in the hand in Cherry Hill on Wednesday evening, hours after a slain detective was laid to rest.
The 30-year-old officer, whom police have not named, was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police have a suspect in custody, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a news conference at the scene on Bridgeview Road shortly before 10 p.m.
Two uniformed officers on the Southern District Action Team, assigned to areas with high violence, approached a person “exhibiting characteristics of an armed gunman,” Davis said.
In a struggle to gain control of the man’s gun, one of the officers was shot through the palm of his hand. The skirmish was captured on the officers’ body cameras, Davis said.
Police cordoned off the crime scene on Bridgeview Road near Cherryland Road.
What appeared to be an officer’s flashlight, still illuminated, lay on the sidewalk. Investigators were focused on the area around it.
Davis said he and Mayor Catherine Pugh had visited the officer at Shock Trauma and that he was in “really, really good shape.”
The shooting came hours after the funeral and burial of Baltimore homicide detective Sean Suiter, who was shot two weeks ago.
“These officers, on a day we bury a cop, they’re out here doing this very, very difficult work,” Davis said. “They’re not slowing down. They’re serving this community. They’re doing exactly what we asked them to do.”
The other officer was able to apprehend the suspect and recover the gun by using a Taser.
Police did not name the man, but said he is about 35 years old, has himself been shot multiple times in his life, and is prohibited from carrying a firearm because he is a convicted felon, Davis said.
He was taken to Harbor Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries related to the Taser.
“If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is all too familiar,” Davis said.
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