One Person Killed In Early Morning Police Involved Shooting In Northeast Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore city police said one person is dead after an officer-involved shooting in the 6000 block of Alta Avenue in Northeast Baltimore.
Around 9:18 p.m. Sunday, police said a call came in for an assault and someone who was armed. The department said they helped two people get out of the house safely but one person still inside was potentially having a behavioral health crisis and armed with a weapon.
The department called in specialized teams that contacted that person but about six hours after the initial call, the department said the person showed up at the door and fired his weapon.
"At that point, I can confirm that at least one officer returned fire striking the individual. One of our SWAT medics provided aid to the individual who was later pronounced deceased," said Deputy Commissioner Sheree Briscoe.
Police later identified him as 40-year-old Marcus Martin.
"We are grateful that more individuals were not hurt, either individuals in the home, other neighbors or police officers," said Mayor Brandon Scott. "We will continue to make sure this investigation is happening with the appropriate haste and attention."
Hostage negotiation and SWAT were called in but a mental health mobile crisis team did not respond to this call because a weapon was involved.
"It gets tricky when there's a weapon involved," said Adrienne Breidenstine with Behavioral Health System Baltimore.
The organization is a nonprofit that works with the city to respond to mental health crisis calls.
"The mobile crisis teams are not typically the ones that are first responders when there's a weapon involved. When there's a weapon involved, it would always necessitate the need to have the police involved. Our team is not typically the lead for that because simply of the heightened danger that is involved when there are weapons," said Breidenstine.