Police fatally shoot knife-wielding man who stabbed five people at Hunt Valley Towne Centre
A tragic series of events involving multiple stabbings at the Hunt Valley Towne Centre on Shawan Road in Cockeysville, Maryland, ended in a fatal officer-involved shooting on the afternoon of September 28.
Police Officers from Baltimore County were initially dispatched to a disturbance at the Towne Centre‘s Hunt Valley Wine, Liquor, and Beer store at 1:43 p.m. The 9-1-1 caller indicated that the suspect was threatening people with a box cutter, later determined to be a folding-style knife.
While police were en-route to that location, additional calls were received indicating that three victims were injured during an altercation with the suspect inside the liquor store before he fled on foot. Two additional stabbing incidents occurred at neighboring businesses.
Police continued to gather information that the suspect fled the shopping center toward Shawan Road. Arriving officers encountered the suspect, brandishing a knife, in the intersection of Shawan Road and McCormick Road.
Officers gave repeated commands to the suspect to drop the knife. The man brandishing the weapon refused to comply with those police directives. Police were forced to discharge their weapons during the encounter.
The suspect, who has not yet been positively identified, suffered a critical injury during the encounter and was pronounced deceased at the scene by responding medics.
All five victims suffered non-life-threatening wounds and were transported to area hospitals for treatment. At least one victim was immediately treated at the scene by an off-duty Baltimore County Fire Department EMS captain that was at the shopping center at the time of the incident.
Hunt Valley Towne Centre security officers who were on site during the incident responded to the liquor store before police were called for a suspicious person. They escorted the suspect off the property; but the suspect returned, at which time they called Baltimore County Police for assistance. The security team is continuing to assist police in the ongoing investigation.
The Baltimore County Police are also coordinating investigative efforts into a separate incident with Maryland Transit Administration Police earlier today involving the same suspect.
CBS News in Baltimore shared a Saturday afternoon statement from Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski who thanked the police for their quick response to the situation:
“We are extremely grateful that the injuries to the innocent people, who were stabbed in an apparent random incident, appear to be relatively minor. I want to thank the Baltimore County Police Department for a speedy response and resolution to a very scary situation. Any loss of life is tragic and unfortunate.”
Police say that the officers involved in the shooting will be placed on routine administrative leave pending the conclusion of an internal investigation into the shooting and will be named in the near future. The identity of the suspect will be released following a positive identification through the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
For more on yesterday’s stabbings and police shootings at the Hunt Valley Towne Centre, see the video accompanying this article.
(Source: Baltimore Police Department)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
