Authorities ID man and SWAT sniper who killed him during Baltimore hostage situation

Authorities on Thursday identified the man accused of shooting at officers and striking one during a hostage situation at a home in Northwest Baltimore.

Jonathan Ingram, 33, of Baltimore, was shot and killed by a SWAT sniper Tuesday after officers responded to a home in the 6200 block of Park Heights Avenue for a burglary and were met with gunfire, according to a preliminary investigation by the Maryland attorney general’s office. In addition to Ingram, two women were inside the home, one of whom escaped off a balcony, officials said.

A 36-year-old officer who has been with the Baltimore Police Department for 13 years was shot in the leg during the response but is expected to recover. He was released from the hospital Tuesday night. Officials have not identified him. Officer Brian Loiero, a 15-year veteran of the police force who is assigned to its SWAT team, fatally shot Ingram, state investigators said Thursday.

Officials from the attorney general’s office said Wednesday that officers rendered aid to Ingram in the home, but he died on the scene. The office’s Independent Investigations Division is investigating this case, as it does all police-involved fatalities in the state.

Police flood quiet neighborhood for active shooter

A woman called police just before noon on Tuesday, saying her uncle had broken into their family home on Park Heights Avenue and was threatening to kill her and her grandmother. An hour of 911 dispatch audio details Baltimore Police’s response that ended in the woman, her grandmother and an officer being hospitalized, and the man being fatally shot by a sniper, Loiero.

Officers responding to the red-brick three-story home in the Glen area were met with gunfire, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference Tuesday. A sergeant on the scene said it sounded like the individual was firing a pistol and ordered police to close Park Heights Avenue while responding to the active shooter.

“We’re taking sniper fire from the house,” the sergeant said over dispatch. “Someone make a notification for SWAT.”

Police cars flooded the usually quiet neighborhood Tuesday morning, blocking a stretch of Park Heights Avenue.

Another officer on the scene said the man was shooting from a second-floor window on the left side of the house. Amid the gunfire, the man’s niece jumped from one of the home’s windows, officials said.

“I have one of the victims jumped out the back. She’s injured. She’s not shot,” an officer said. “She’s saying her grandmother is still inside.”

Police said over dispatch they were talking to the man as he held a gun to the woman’s head inside the home, trying to get him to come out. In less than a minute, the man shot out a window and struck an officer.

“Shots fired! Shots fired! Officer down! Officer down!” the sergeant called over the dispatch.

Officers on the scene began applying pressure to the officer’s wound. He was transported to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center by police car, dispatchers said.

As police tended to the officer who was shot, the man moved away from the window. SWAT officers approached the home.

“Do everything you can to pull your officers back so they are not exposed,” a dispatcher said. “Raven Unit will infiltrate, and they will assume lethal coverage.”

Four SWAT officers took their positions surrounding the home. One suggested alerting residents at the surrounding homes to stay inside.

A little over an hour after the woman called police for help, a SWAT officer said: “Suspect is down.”