Baltimore police release video of West Baltimore shooting, show confrontation unfolded

Baltimore police on April 17 released body-worn camera video that turns a West Baltimore shooting into a step-by-step sequence, but it does not settle the deeper questions Upton residents are left with after the April 2 encounter on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The department says the original call came in at about 12:16 p.m. after a report that an adult male was being assaulted by multiple people at Wilson Street and Brunt Street. A detective monitoring CitiWatch footage watched the suspects as they fled and directed officers toward them, according to police. Officers later encountered 35-year-old Tavon Newton in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police say Newton ran on foot, was chased into a nearby parking lot and refused repeated commands to drop a black sling bag. The department says an officer deployed a Taser, Newton kept struggling, and he gained control of the officer’s Taser before one officer fired a single shot. Newton was hospitalized and later listed in stable condition before being identified by police as the man shot.

The release makes one thing clearer for Baltimore: police are saying the shooting was not a sudden break from contact, but the final moment of a longer confrontation already unfolding on video. The footage, which the department described as graphic, also shows why officers say force was used. Police say they recovered a handgun from Newton’s sling bag and a knife from the scene.

What the video does not fully answer is how the fight in Upton started, why Newton was running, and what officers knew in the seconds before the shot. The department has said the incident is under review by the Special Investigation Response Team and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, and that it activated its Critical Incident Policy. Officer Devon Gubbar, a four-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, was identified as the officer who fired and remains on administrative leave, which is standard in police-involved shootings while the case is reviewed.

Newton’s sister, LaShawn Newton, told WBAL-TV 11 News that she believed her brother was not hurting anybody and said she saw him lying on the ground after arriving. Police Commissioner Richard Worley said officers had been told one suspect was walking with a knife and that the suspect also had control of a satchel containing a handgun.

For Baltimore, the release offers a more detailed public record than a bare shooting summary, but it still leaves the most important question unresolved: whether this force was the last available option in a city where police shootings remain under close scrutiny and formal review.