Relatives of an unarmed Baltimore man who was fatally shot by a police officer Wednesday say the shooting was not justified, while a nurse who witnessed the shooting said police rebuffed her offer to assist the dying man.

Friends and relatives held a candlelight vigil Thursday at the Northeast Baltimore shopping center where Edward Lamont Hunt, 27, was shot. Hunt’s fiancee, Lakia Jeter, 25, questioned why the father of her 2-year-old son is gone.

“I want [Mayor] Sheila Dixon to explain why police shot my son’s father like a dog,” she said.

“He was not a threat. He didn’t have a weapon on him. And if they say he had drugs on him, they were planted.”

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An officer attempted to interview the man around noon, but the interaction turned into an altercation and the officer — fearing for his safety — fatally shot the suspect in the torso, Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford said.

Several witnesses told The Examiner Hunt was shot twice in the back; Clifford said it was unclear whether the wounds were in the front or back.

No weapon was recovered from Hunt. Bonita Barrett, 54, said she witnessed the shooting.

“The police officer told him to get down in the parking lot,” she said. “He kept walking and the officer grabbed him by the arm. He pulled his arm away and then the officer shot him in the back two times.”

Nurse Lakeisha Artis, 30, described a similar scenario. “They were frisking him for 15 minutes and then let him go They shot him while he was walking away.”

Artis said she approached a police officer and told him, “I’m a nurse. I can help.”

But she said the officer pointed his gun and said: “Stay away.”

Hunt died that afternoon at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Police said Hunt was in possession of drugs, but have not yet specified the type.

“The investigation is open,” Clifford said. “Homicide detectives are working on it.”

Jeter says witnesses told her police searched Hunt before stopping him again.

“The same officer circled around and grabbed him by the arm and he pulled away,” Jeter said. “He felt like there was no reason they should hold him.” Jeter’s mother, Annette Robinson, said: “I want justice for my son-in-law.”

The family has filed a complaint with the city’s civilian review board, which investigates complaints about police conduct.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com