Baltimore County Police fatally shoot man in Essex

Baltimore County Police officers fatally shot a knife-wielding man while responding to a domestic disturbance call Wednesday in Essex, officials say.

Police were called at about 4 p.m. to the 900 block of Boundbrook Way, where they fired upon a man, who later died, county police spokeswoman Joy Stewart said. At least two officers fired, officials said.

Authorities said Thursday that the 911 caller stated that a man inside the home was throwing items at a family member. When officers arrived and began speaking to him, he picked up two knives and refused to comply with officers’ commands to drop them, according to a statement Thursday from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating.

He then “moved quickly towards officers with the knives,” the statement said.

One officer deployed their Taser, and two officers fired their guns, striking the man. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Authorities have not publicly identified the man or the officers involved.

“Currently, our investigators are on scene gathering info and examining evidence,” said Thomas Lester, a spokesman for the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

Investigators from the office’s Independent Investigations Division are responsible for investigating all fatalities involving police — including shootings, police pursuits or in-custody deaths — across the state.

Lester said that within 48 hours, the agency will identify the victim and the officers involved.

He said the officers were wearing body cameras and that the agency will “attempt to release” footage from the shooting within 14 days.

Lester said no one else was injured in the shooting.

Malinda Foster, 66, said she knew the man who died, a neighbor, since he was a young boy.

She said he lived in a red-shuttered house with other family members, and police were called two days ago to the home for an altercation.

Foster said he had been released from prison recently.

“He had a good heart,” she said. “He just unfortunately got mixed up in the wrong crowd.”

It is the second recent shooting by police in Baltimore County. Last month, four county officers shot Shane Radomski, 19, after police say he rammed a department car in Dundalk. This week, a grand jury declined to criminally charge the four officers who fired.

Radomski was shot several times and remains in the hospital.