Friendly fire apparently hit officers in shooting

Suspect killed did not fire any rounds during incident

A man shot and killed by police Wednesday in Northeast Baltimore pointed a fully loaded gun at officers attempting to arrest him for an outstanding warrant but did not fire any rounds, Baltimore Police said Friday.

The shooting wounded two police officers — one from Baltimore, the other from Baltimore County — in what now appears to be a friendly fire incident, though police did not say so, saying only that they continue to investigate what happened.

Police identified the two wounded officers Friday as Robert Adams from the Baltimore Police and First Class Swinney from the county police, which does not identify its officers by first name per its contract with the police union.

Police also formally identified Michael Marullo, 33, as the man killed Wednesday outside an apartment complex. He was wanted on an attempted murder warrant in Pennsylvania and fled to his Baltimore address where task force officers tracked him down.

“Mr. Marullo was brandishing a firearm when agents/officers approached him. That weapon, a .357 magnum which was fully loaded with six live rounds, was recovered at the scene,” the statement from Baltimore Police said.

The city’s Special Investigations Response Team, working with the other agencies, is investigating the shooting, “including how the officers sustained their injuries,” the statement said.

Police have not said how many officers fired or how many shots were fired. They did not name any other

officer involved.

A spokeswoman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said the office did not have any additional comments Friday, and pointed to a previous statement expressing support for the officers and their speedy recovery.

“Our office is committed to working with BPD and our other state, federal and regional partners to fully investigate this matter,” Mosby said.

Adams, the city officer, was struck in the calf and has since been released from the hospital.

Swinney was struck in the abdomen and leg, and remains at the hospital in serious condition, the county said in a statement.

Adams, who has been with Baltimore Police since 2001, also was shot on the job in 2002. Police said at the time that Adams and three other officers were shot while attempting a raid on a home in North

Baltimore where an informant told detectives someone was dealing marijuana.

Adams was wounded in the right arm and right thigh. An attorney for the shooter criticized the raid because of the use of a no-knock warrant, and said his client feared the police were intruders breaking into his home. The man was charged and later acquitted of all 21 charges against him, according to online court records.

This week both Adams and Swinney were working with the U.S. Marshal’s Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, which deputizes officers from local and federal agencies to identify and apprehend violent offenders.

The day before the shooting, police in Linwood, Pennsylvania, in between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware, said Marullo showed up at a car detailing business to confront the grandfather of his 2-year-old twins over a dispute about disciplining the children.

The grandfather told police he had called Marullo two days earlier to ask him about hitting his children, charging documents said. Marullo hung up on him.

On Tuesday, the grandfather told police Marullo showed up with the twins to confront the grandfather, the charging documents said. Police did not name the grandfather in charging documents against Marullo.

According to the documents, the grandfather ordered Marullo to leave and returned to his work detailing a car. Then he heard a gunshot, police wrote.

“The victim looked back and saw the defendant holding a silver revolver pointing it at the victim,” police wrote.

The grandfather ran around the shop and heard another shot, he told police.

Charges filed against Marullo included attempted homicide, assault, reckless endangerment and gun charges.

By Wednesday, officers from the task force were searching for Marullo when they found him armed in the 5900 block of Radecke Ave., police said. The officers attempted to arrest Marullo in the courtyard of the Gardenvillage Apartments.

Cellphone video circulating online shows officers were positioned outside the apartments when a man came at them pointing a handgun.

Witnesses at the scene described seeing officers at the front door of an apartment with their guns drawn and yelling at Marullo to get down. Several witnesses said they heard multiple gunshots.

Marullo died at the scene.

He grew up in the Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 2010, he enlisted in the Army National Guard. He later worked as a corrections officer in Maryland, but resigned from the job last month.

Marullo’s mother, Susan Marullo of Scranton, spoke to a reporter at the Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper, said her son had “problems with child support” and noted that he was preparing to move to Philadelphia to make a fresh start.

She said she last spoke to her son around noon Wednesday, but police had not notified her of his death late Wednesday night.

She did not respond to additional requests for comment.