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Baltimore police shooting, killing at a much higher rate this year
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - When Baltimore police have drawn their firearms this year, they have been killing suspects at a much higher rate than last year.
In just over three months, police have shot nine people — killing eight of them. That’s a fatality rate about three times higher than last year, when there were 13 fatal police-involved shootings in all of 2007.
“Anytime a police officer feels obligated to use his weapon, lethal force is justified,” said Baltimore Police Department spokesman Sterling Clifford. “If it turns out to be nonfatal, that’s great, but our officers wouldn’t be using their firearms if lethal force wasn’t justified.”
The latest police-involved shooting, the only nonfatal incident of the year, occurred Wednesday evening at 8:40 p.m. in Southwest Baltimore.
Two plainclothes officers were working when they heard gunshots coming from Poplar Grove Street, police said.
The officers saw a suspect running, and one officer got out of the patrol car to chase him on foot while the other officer drove around to cut him off, said police spokesman Agent Donny Moses.
As the officer on foot closed in on the man, the suspect raised his weapon and shot at the officer once, causing the officer to return fire, striking the suspect multiple times in the shoulder and side, Moses said.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is a 28-year-old man. He was in critical condition Thursday at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. John Jay College of Criminal Justice criminologist Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer, said officers aren’t trigger-happy; they’re just facing violent criminals on a daily basis.
“Generally you find that 3-to-1 ratio in police involved shootings — one third are going to get killed,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people get shot in Baltimore. The best predictor of police-involved shootings are violent neighborhoods. No one wants to shoot anybody, but a cop’s got to go home.”
Moskos, the author of “Cop in the Hood,” about his time serving in Baltimore’s Eastern District, said he’d expect police-involved shootings to eventually decrease as the homicide rate drops.
“As homicides go down ... you’d expect police shooting to go down as well,” he said.
lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
Im waiting for the WHY DIDN'T THE POLICE SHOOT HIM IN THE LEG CRAP! Thats Tv folks-If you threaten an officers life then you might be shot and killed! Thats just one of the chances you take when you want to be a GANGSTA! I have no sympathy for these thugs if they are black, white or any other color! Good riddance!
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A good friend said:
Way to go Russ!! I'm glad your ok.
5 agree | 3 disagree
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Rocko the Magnificent said:
I am also a former police officer. If the office is justified in using lethal force in a situation, he should use it. A police officer's primary job is to go home at the end of every shift. If a criminal is threatening the life of an officer, the officer should use deadly force. Putting it into the mind of an officer that he should not use deadly force when justified leads to hesitation on the part of the officer and could lead to the death of the officer.
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Examiner Reader said:
Sooner or later these bad guys will learn not to be pointing guns at the poeleese.
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Examiner Reader said:
"The best predictor of police-involved shootings are violent neighborhoods. No one wants to shoot anybody..." Wow, guess what? Ordinary citizens live in those neighborhoods, too, and don't want to shoot anyone, either. But they will to save their own lives and those of their families. And the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution affirms their right to do so.
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johnn said:
i use to be a police officer,and i faced some of thease same violent sistuations and yet resorted to other tactics to resolve the sistuation..the officers out there now will shoot anything that even looks loke a threat,i guess its not all there fault the people who are training them are not like the coaches i had,there worst..this was a problem when ham was there and it has not changed
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BA said:
Well, now we know why the regular murder rate is down... the cops are getting rid of thugs quicker than they're able to kill each other's and innocent bystanders!
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Truth speaker said:
There should be no cops or medical personel allowed in these neighborhoods; just let these 'people' kill each other off and stop breathing the air of law-abiding contributors to society.
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BmoreCareful said:
did this guy have body armor?
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Examiner Reader said:
Good. The more criminals the cops kill, the less money is wasted on lengthy trials and prison sentences that only produce more skilled criminals.
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Examiner Reader said:
Why are we so worried about a criminal that fires or draws a gun on the police. May they all rest in HELL!
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Grumpy said:
"Body armor is illegal in Baltimore City." Well that seems to be working out OK. I guess the shooter was wearing the body armor to keep warm. If he lives he will sue the manufacturer of the armor because it didn't work and get a multi-million dollar settlement. Thank God no police officers were killed. Baltimore, where the crabs are hot, the beer is cold and your life isn't worth a dime.
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Examiner Reader said:
I hope the guy does not live. Show the rest of the criminals out there not to shoot at the police.
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johnn said:
i often critize police when they are involved in a bad shooting,but this was a good shooting,the bad guy fired frist at police and was shot by police.this guy was not a kid but a known felon.officer jobst is a fine officer, i know him and im glad he is ok,to hell with who they shot,i have no feeling for harden criminals,we dont need them
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A giraffe dies said:
Welcome to Baltimore, the city that bleeds, breeds but cannot reads. Please give your wallet to the meter maid and mind the rats.
35 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Yep typical!!
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Examiner Reader said:
Typical behavior for city "high school youths".
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Ditto said:
Where are the safe clubs? I need a drink!
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Examiner Reader said:
Whatever happend to settling differences by rolling up your sleeves and duking it out? Kids today are just plain cowards. They think it's cool to risk spending the next five years of their lives behind bars, to bring a handgun to a club. Such punks.
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Ditto said:
I saw this man kissing everyone at the bar.
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