Faced with a gun pointed at him, aBaltimore City police officer shot and killed the boy Tuesday ? doubling the number of people shot by police since last year.
Baltimore police have shot 30 people this year, compared with 15 in all of 2006. Nine of this year?s police-involved shootings have been fatal.
“There have been a high number of police-involved shootings this year, even with the success we?ve had reducing crime in the last 90 days,” said Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford. “As police pursue people in violent crimes, those criminals fight back. We?re just not going to tolerate guns in Baltimore. If you point a gun at a police officer, you?ve taken away his choices. He has no choice but to use his gun as well.”
The latest police-involved shooting occurred around 6 p.m. in the 4100 block of Labyrinth Road in West Baltimore near the Baltimore County line, where a police officer attempted to “interview” three juveniles, because they were acting suspiciously, Clifford said.
After the officer got out of his car, one of the boys pulled out a large handgun and pointed it at the officer, causing the officer to push the teenager away and fire his weapon once, striking the suspect in the stomach, police said.
The injured juvenile was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he died around 11 p.m. Monday, Clifford said.
The two other juvenile suspects have been taken into custody for questioning, police said.
Clifford said he did not know the ages of the juveniles and was not immediately releasing the officer?s name.
