BALTIMORE (AP) — A police officer at Coppin State University in Baltimore shot and killed a man who had just fired at a moving car near that campus Tuesday evening, authorities said.
The suspected shooter was pronounced dead on the scene and the officer wasn’t hurt, Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith said at a news conference at the northwest Baltimore site. There were no reports of any injuries.
Earlier Tuesday evening, a man killed in a double shooting became Baltimore’s 300th homicide this year, Smith said.
Smith said that at about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, two cars approached from a nearby mall on a street near the campus. A uniformed campus officer was driving an unmarked car on the same street, as part of a patrol to deter vehicle break-ins, he added.
The police spokesman said one of the cars stopped, and the officer’s vehicle stopped behind it. A man got out of the passenger side of the car and began shooting at the second car approaching from the mall, according to Smith.
The university officer then got out of his vehicle and shot at the gunman, striking him, Smith said, adding the two cars then sped away. A gun was recovered at the site, Smith added.
The university’s officers don’t wear body cameras, Smith said, but he added surveillance cameras recorded some of the incident.
Smith did not disclose the races of the suspect or the officer, and added that the identity of the man wasn’t immediately being released while the family was notified. He only described the slain man as a young adult.
Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, now the director of public safety for Coppin State University Police, also went to the scene. Hamm said that the university officer “did exactly what he was trained to do. He saw a dangerous situation; he did his job.”
Hamm also said the university was never placed on a security lockdown as the incident didn’t occur on campus.
Baltimore police and Coppin police have concurrent jurisdiction over the city street where the shootings occurred and both are investigating, Smith noted. He also said officers are seeking the drivers of the two cars that sped off after the shooting, as well as any passengers.
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