OFFICER CHARGED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF BLACK MOTORIST.

A Maryland State Police trooper shot a 16-year-old boy dead after the teenager aimed what investigators later learned was a toy gun at the officer before pulling a knife on him, police said.

The shooting occurred Tuesday at about 1:30 p.m. in Leonardtown in southern Maryland.

The trooper was responding to two 911 calls about “a guy acting suspicious” and possibly armed with a gun in a residential neighbourhood. He found the teen in a driveway “in a shooting stance, pointing a gun at the trooper,” said Supt. Woodrow Jones. The trooper fired and wounded the boy.

The teen, identified as Peyton Ham, 16, who lived nearby, then pulled a knife. “The trooper ordered him to drop the knife before he fired again,” Jones said.