Howard County Police Shoot, Kill Domestic Assault Suspect After Confrontation
COLUMBIA, Md. (WJZ) -- Police shooting. A man wanted for assault and gun charges following a domestic incident is killed by Howard County police.
Rochelle Ritchie has more on the investigation.
The officer-involved shooting is now under investigation by the Howard County Police Department. The officer who fired the fatal shot is now on paid administrative leave.
Howard county police say this all started after a man held his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint for hours in Baltimore City.
"The suspect's name is Percy Holland and he was charged in a warrant from the night before with second-degree assault, gun charges and reckless endangerment," Sherry Llewellyn, spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department, said.
Holland was wanted by Baltimore City police.
According to the arrest warrant, Holland broke into his estranged girlfriend's house just before midnight as she slept. He put a gun to her head and said he was going to kill. He held her overnight and assaulted to her. She escaped and called 911. Holland took off with their two-year-old.
"We were very concerned that he had a weapon and that he had already committed a violent act," Llewellyn said.
Baltimore City police called Howard County police telling them Holland may be inside a home on Constant Course in Columbia.
They were right. And what could have been a simple arrest led to a shooting, leaving Holland dead.
"This took place outside behind the house and the officers repeatedly directed, 'Show me your hands! Show me your hands!' Llewellyn said.
Instead, investigators say Holland claimed to have a gun and would shoot them and then himself saying, "You're going to have to kill me or I'm going to kill you. I have a gun, I will use it. You won't take me alive."
The entire incident could be seen and heard by witnesses.
"I was giving my child a bath, I looked out the window and I saw the man running and the police following him," Leslie Ross-Ayala, a witness, said.
"I heard the shots and I went home," said another witness.
Holland was shot and died at the hospital. The officer who shot him is now on paid administrative leave, which is a standard procedure.
The two-year-old child was not at the home at the time of the shooting. The child was found at the home of a family member.
