Man pulled gun, pointed it at Baltimore officer before police shooting, video shows

A 44-year-old man critically injured in a police shooting in East Baltimore last month ran towards an officer while pointing a gun before the officer opened fire, video released Wednesday showed.

Lindsey Eldridge, chief spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department, said the man fired his gun around the same time that the officer, Phil Polanco, shot him.

The man, whom officials have not identified, remains hospitalized in critical condition, Eldridge said in a video montage release Wednesday. Polanco, a 7-year-agency veteran, was not injured and is on routine administrative leave.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office, which probes all fatalities involving police in the state, is examining the Oct. 22 shooting that took place in the 3900 block of Erdman Ave. in the city’s Belair-Edison neighborhood.

The video released Wednesday included footage from Polanco’s body camera and a private security camera. The video featured both raw and edited clips in which officials slowed down the footage and zoomed in at critical moments in the encounter.

The episode began at the Erdman Shopping Center, with Polanco speaking to the man through the open front passenger’s window of his patrol car, the video showed. The conversation is not audible because it was recorded during a 60-second buffer period before the officer initiated his body camera that does not record sound, Eldridge said.

After a brief interaction, the man begins walking away from Polanco’s car, private camera footage showed.

“I’m gonna have one running,” Polanco said into his radio.

Polanco is a detective on the Western District Action Team, a squad of officers who roam West Baltimore proactively working on “crime suppression” in the Eastern District, Eldridge said.

He initially pursued the man in his vehicle before parking and chasing him on foot.

Polanco’s camera captured the man running toward a car, gun in hand, before stopping and advancing toward Polanco. That’s when Eldridge said the man and officer fired near simultaneously. She did not say how many rounds were fired.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!” Polanco called out over his radio.

As the man collapsed, Polanco retreated. The video shows Polanco ejecting a magazine from his handgun before reloading.

“Stop!” Polanco yelled as the man moved slightly on the ground.

Eldridge said Polanco called for medical assistance and that he and other officers treated the man’s injuries until they were relieved by medics, who took the man to a hospital.