BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Two homicides and a police-involved shooting made for a bloody weekend in Baltimore City.

A weekend so violent has been rare this year in the city, where police say homicides are down 31 percent compared with last year.

The violence erupted late Friday night when officers witnessed a shooting in West Baltimore, chased the suspect, came under gunfire and returned the shots.

The suspect allegedly shot another man in the hip at a gas station in the 2800 block of Edmonson Avenue and fled after being approached by four officers from the Violent Crimes Impact Division, said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department. He said he did not have the names of the men involved.

Police chased the man for about a block, to the 2700 block of Lauretta Avenue, and they had him cornered, Clifford said, but that’s when the man opened fire on the officers.

“The officers essentially had him pinned in,” Clifford said. “He fired at least one time at one of the officers, but three of the officers returned fire, so the suspect was hit several times.”

None of the officers was injured, Clifford said.

The shooter was taken to a local hospital and was listed Sunday in critical condition, Clifford said.

Police have no motives. They hope to learn more from the suspect and the man who was shot in the hip and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Clifford said.

A woman was killed several hours later, police said, found in Southwest Baltimore, shot in the head.

The shooting happened Saturday morning in the 500 block of Brunswick Street, about a mile from where the police-involved shooting opened the weekend, police said.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the homicide, said Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. She said she did not know of any motives or suspects.

Monroe said another homicide was uncovered Sunday morning when a man in the 2100 block of Orleans Street was found dead, apparently shot to death.

It was first called a “suspicious death,” but about an hour later, authorities found a bullet wound and upgraded the case to a homicide, Monroe said.

Police have no suspects or motives in that case, Monroe said.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com