Police: Man shot in leg after charging at officer with knives in Southwest Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- An investigation is underway after a Baltimore Police officer shot a man in the leg Saturday morning.

The shooting happened in the 2000 block of West Pratt Street around 9 a.m. 

In a press conference near the site of the shooting on Saturday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said officers saw a naked man walking in the area. Worley said the officers approached the man and he ran into a nearby business. 

When officers attempted to confront the naked man, Worley said he threw some type of unidentified liquid at officers. Afterward, he charged at them with a machete-like weapon and another knife, cutting an officer in the face. That's when the officer shot the man, striking him in the leg.

The local police union described the officer's injuries as "minor."

Union officials noted that the officer was working in a "violent city with staffing numbers approaching 50% short of the necessary number needed to safely patrol" the streets of Baltimore.

Worley commended officers who were present when the incident occurred for trying to help the injured man as he was still "reaching for a weapon." 

"While he was still being taken into custody, he was still reaching for a weapon, but officers were able to render aid to him, put a tourniquet on his leg, probably saved his life," Worley said.

The 36-year-old man is receiving treatment for his injuries at a local hospital, according to authorities.

Meanwhile, authorities have begun processing the "handmade devices" they found in an apartment above the business where the man had been living.  

The man's name and the officer's name have not been released at this time.

Saturday's shooting marks the third time in the past eight months that a Baltimore police officer has shot someone in one of the neighborhoods surrounding the Westside Shopping Center in Southwest Baltimore.  

On Nov. 7, an officer shot 27-year-old Hunter Jessup following a foot chase on Wilkens Avenue. Body camera footage shows that officers approached Jessup and his friend on Brunswick Street before the chase.

Baltimore Police Chief Richard Worley said that one of his officers tried to tackle Jessup but fell onto some stairs. It was at that point that Jessup pointed a gun at the officer, police said.  

Four Baltimore Police officers fired 36 rounds the day they killed Jessup. Southwest Baltimore residents filmed officers as they swarmed around Jessup following the shooting and shouted prayers in hopes that he might survive his injuries.

On May 11, an officer shot a 17-year-old boy, identified by his family as Mekhi Franklin, who showed what Worley described as "characteristics of an armed man" near the intersection of Catherine Street and Frederick Avenue. 

Worley said police recovered a "real weapon with an extended magazine" on the day of the shooting.

The shootings involving officer gunfire in Southwest Baltimore account for three of at least four police-related shootings in 2023.

The fourth shooting happened in Southeast Baltimore on June 29. That's when officers shot and killed 40-year-old Darryl Gamble. At the time, Gamble was wanted on a warrant.

The gunfire erupted after Gamble's car became disabled near the intersection of Fairmount Avenue and Milton Street—just one block away from Patterson Park. That's when Gamble began firing off rounds, striking an officer's vehicle.

All four shootings happened during daylight hours.

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• Shooting
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