By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• The Baltimore Police Department released body-worn camera footage showing officers fatally shooting a man who opened fire on them during a May incident.
• Officers were on patrol near Wilkens Avenue when the suspect fired at their patrol vehicles and then ran toward them with a gun.
• The suspect, identified as 46-year-old Louis Jackson, was killed after officers returned fire, police said.
• The encounter occurred after unrelated 911 calls reporting a man with a gun and a suicide threat, but officers involved were unaware of those calls.
• The Maryland Attorney General’s Office is investigating the shooting alongside the Baltimore Police Department.
BALTIMORE, MD — The Baltimore Police Department has released body-worn camera footage showing a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred May 14 when a man fired shots at two patrol vehicles before approaching officers with a firearm, officials said.
Police identified the man killed in the incident as Louis Jackson, 46, a Baltimore resident, who officers said fired four shots at a patrol vehicle on Wilkens Avenue near Ascension St. Agnes Hospital before charging toward an officer with a .32-caliber revolver.
The footage shows officers Sharod Watson and Mark Rankine drawing their weapons and firing as Jackson continued toward them after refusing repeated commands to drop the weapon, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said during a news briefing.
Jackson later died at the hospital, police said. No officers were reported injured in the exchange, and both Watson and Rankine have been placed on administrative leave, department officials said.
Officials noted that unrelated 911 calls reporting a man armed with a gun and a possible suicide attempt were made minutes before the shooting, but they said the responding officers were not aware of those calls due to district radio boundaries.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s Independent Investigations Division, which reviews all fatal police encounters in the state, is conducting the ongoing investigation in coordination with the department, officials said.