Police: Officer in Maryland fatally shoots man with knife

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (AP) — A police officer in Maryland fatally shot a knife-wielding man and later found a woman dead inside the same home, authorities in Anne Arundel County said Sunday.

The incident in Glen Burnie began with a phone call to police from a woman who said that she and a juvenile had been chased out of a house by a male family member with a knife, police spokesperson Jacklyn Davis told reporters Sunday evening.

The woman who called police also said that she saw blood in the home and that an elderly woman who lives there could not be located, Davis said.

Responding officers knocked on the door and announced their presence multiple times before entering the home, Davis said. Once inside, officers told the man to drop the knife multiple times before trying to subdue him several times with a bean bag “munition” and a stun gun.

The bean bag and Taser had little to no effect on the man, Davis said.

“That subject then raised the weapon toward officers,” Davis said. “At that time, one of our officers fired his duty weapon.”

Police then searched home and found the body of the elderly woman, who had suffered apparent trauma, Davis said.

Anne Arundel Police Chief Amal Awad said “our hearts go out to this family.”

“These are difficult incidents … to have to make critical, split-second decisions,” the chief added. “These are difficult calls.”

The Capital Gazette reported that police shootings in Maryland are now investigated by an Independent Investigations Division that was created as part of police reform legislation called the Maryland Police Accountability Act.

The department is cooperating with Maryland’s state police and attorney general’s office, the chief said.

Davis and Awad deferred further questions to the Maryland attorney general’s office. Spokesperson Raquel Coombs said in an email that the attorney general’s office had no additional comment and would likely issue a news release on Monday.

Police have not released the identities and the races of the man who was shot or the police officer who shot him.

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