BALTIMORE — An off-duty Baltimore police officer who was getting a haircut Saturday became involved in a fatal shooting of a suspect believed to have been behind a weekend shooting spree in the city that left two people dead and one critically injured, police said.
Responding officers arrived at the barbershop and “learned that an armed gunman walked into the business and shot and killed” a male barber before an off-duty police officer who was in the business at the time “shot the suspect, killing him,” according to a press statement by the Baltimore Police Department.
“Investigators believe that the suspect involved in this shooting was also responsible for the shooting that occurred today in the 5000 block of East Oliver Street and the Homicide that occurred in the 4600 block of Eastern Avenue,” the statement said.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison did not identify the off-duty officer during a news conference. However, he said the law enforcement professional “responded to the shooting immediately and with great bravery, produced his firearm and fired at the perpetrator, striking the perpetrator,” Fox News reported.
“Detectives are working to determine connectivity between this police-involved shooting, this homicide against the barber, in connection with two other shootings that happened slightly prior to this shooting,” Harrison noted.
“We’re processing three different scenes in three parts of the city,” Harrison continued as he briefed members of the press. “While this perpetrator has expired from his injuries, we will still need answers to these questions.”
The East Oliver Street shooting victim is listed in critical condition, Fox reported.
“Investigators from S.I.R.T. along with Homicide detectives are continuing to investigate these cases,” police said in the press statement.
