Baltimore Police Shoot Armed Man in Upton After Pennsylvania Avenue Chase

A 35-year-old man was hospitalized in critical but stable condition Thursday after a Baltimore police officer shot him once on the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in the Upton neighborhood, following a foot chase that began at a reported street fight and ended in a physical struggle over a satchel containing a handgun.

Officers responded around 12:13 p.m. to Wilson Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, where at least three people were fighting. Commissioner Richard Worley, who came to the scene and briefed reporters, said officers learned that one of the men involved was carrying a knife. When they moved to stop him, the man ran.

Officers caught up with the suspect and tackled him on Pennsylvania Avenue. Worley said an officer deployed a Taser, which failed to subdue the man. A second attempt also failed. The suspect then grabbed the Taser from officers while simultaneously reaching into a satchel he was carrying. Investigators later recovered a handgun from that bag. One officer fired a single shot, striking the man. A knife was also found at the scene.

The suspect was transported to an area hospital. Worley told reporters that officers had recovered two firearms from the same man in separate incidents the previous year. He will face charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

The shooting drew immediate pushback from the suspect's family, who disputed whether deploying lethal force was warranted given the circumstances. The confrontation is the third police-involved shooting in the Upton neighborhood within the past year, a stretch of incidents that has kept the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor under sustained scrutiny.