A Baltimore police officer shot and killed a member of the U.S. military in downtown Baltimore early Sunday morning, after the man opened fire on the officer, police said.
At about 1:50 a.m. Sunday at 55 Market Place in downtown Baltimore, near popular nightspot Power Plant Live, Jared Stern, a Baltimore police officer was working overtime in full uniform in a parking garage, said Baltimore police spokeswoman Officer Nicole Monroe.
Stern encountered an altercation in the garage in which two men in a group of several men were fighting, police said. Stern attempted to break up the fight by using verbal commands and mace when Alexander E. Larkin, 25, shot at the officer with a Desert Eagle handgun, Monroe said. WJZ-TV reported Larkin was a corporal stationed at Fort Meade assigned to a miliitary intelligence unit.
The officer was not struck, but returned fire striking Larkin numerous times throughout his body.
“It’s unclear what the altercation was about or why Larkin attempted to shoot the officer,” said Monroe.
Stern has been placed on routine administrative leave following the shooting.
