Gunman fires wildly during car chase

BALTIMORE — A gunman fleeing police in a car shot wildly at officers and pedestrians across a swath of Baltimore on Friday as he led cruisers on a desperate chase that looped through city streets for at least 20 minutes before he was captured.

Live helicopter shots showed a beat-up grey sedan recklessly swerving between cars on narrow streets and residential blocks of West Baltimore with police cruisers travelling behind. The suspect’s car sped Friday through traffic lights, narrowly missing pedestrians and clipping at least one vehicle.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis later said the gunman fired a total of five shots during his chaotic ride.

“He jeopardized an entire city today due to his intentional recklessness with two guns,” Davis told reporters, adding that the incident was “absolutely insane.”

One pedestrian was hit in the leg. A motorist was shot in the upper body and is hospitalized with lifethreatening injuries, though a police spokesman said later in the day his condition had stabilized. A police officer who initially pulled the suspect over was shot at during the chase but was apparently not hit.

A passenger in the critically injured driver’s car suffered cardiac arrest and is also at a hospital, according to police.

When the suspect’s car stopped at an intersection, a person ran to him and grabbed him in a bear hug. They rolled to the ground before being surrounded by police. T.J. Smith, the police department’s chief spokesman, said the person who ran up to the car as officers moved in was the suspect’s girlfriend.

Police seized a handgun and an assault-style rifle from the suspect’s car.