Baltimore County Police officers fatally shot a man armed with a knife after he tried to punch another member of the force, body camera footage released Friday shows.
Howard Sye, 31, died after officers entered his apartment building due to calls of a domestic dispute, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, the investigating agency on the case, said. Officers rushed to the 900 block of Holgate Drive in Essex around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 4.
Onlookers, including one who said she called police, led the officers to the lower-floor home of the apartment building. One officer walked down a flight of stairs to the home where Sye was and knocked on the door about five times, body camera footage shows.
Sye, with a black fitted cap on his head, cigarette in his mouth and a knife and other miscellaneous items in his left hand, opened the door. While one officer was at the door, four others lined the staircase, and all commanded Sye to put his hands up and drop the knife.
“Put my hands up?” Sye said while walking towards an officer on the staircase with the cigarette in his right hand and knife and other items in his left.
The officer at the door grabbed Sye’s left hand. With his right hand, Sye put the cigarette into his mouth and attempted to punch the officer at the door.
The four officers on the staircase — Malia Hooper, Trent LaPosta, Hunter Cortes and Nicolas Vagnier — shot Sye, and he fell to the ground.
“Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired,” officers shouted.
Hooper walked over Sye’s body and picked up the knife that had fallen out of his hand. Cortes cuffed Sye’s left hand while Vagnier moved Sye out of a pool of blood, rolled him onto his stomach and cuffed his right hand.
Then, Vagnier and another officer began rendering aid to Sye. Police shouted at a resident from upstairs who had come down to check out the commotion to go back into their home and stay there.
Another officer, who was not identified, went inside Sye’s apartment. There, police found a bloodied woman lying on the home’s kitchen floor against the stove and refrigerator.
“We got a woman stabbed in here,” the officer said. “Start me a medic for her.”
The four officers who fired at Sye were placed on administrative leave. Baltimore County Police officials did not immediately respond to questions about the injured woman’s current condition.
A man named Tabias told WJZ, a media partner of The Banner, that Sye was his brother. Tabias said the 31-year-old left behind a young daughter.
Tabias told WJZ Sye dealt with mental health issues stemming from family trauma and believed police could have done a better job deescalating the situation.
“There’s no way that man should be dead. There’s no way I shouldn’t have my brother here right now,” Tabias told WJZ. “It’s crazy.”
Sye is one of four people who died at the hands of Baltimore County Police last year, according to information from the Independent Investigations Division in the state attorney general’s office, which investigates officer-involved fatalities, shows.
Officers Andrew Meyer, Malik McLaughlin, Austin Kiss, Nicholas Cook, Mason Rice and Luke Eubert are under investigation for their involvement in 55-year-old Robert Adams’ death during a barricade situation in Dundalk last October.
In April, Officer Todd Weidel fatally shot Arvel Jones Sr of Arbutus for allegedly firing arrows at passing cars in what family members believe was a mental health crisis.
In Dundalk last May, Officer Michael Brady fatally shot Glenn Pettie Jr., 43, after he allegedly fired upon him as he was responding to calls about Pettie having a mental health episode. State officials announced last month they would not charge Brady.
Notably, none of the Baltimore County Police officers involved in three separate fatalities in 2024 were charged.
WJZ contributed to this reporting.
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