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Baltimore Police officer recovering, suspect dead after Sunday shootout

Julius A. White
(l-r) Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle, BPD Media Relations Chief T.J. Smith

An exchange of gunfire is leaving a Baltimore police officer injured and a suspect dead.  It happened around 6:30 yesterday evening in the 800 block of Vine Street. Detectives are not yet sure what led up to the shooting, but the officer and suspect exchanged gunfire.  The officer is suffered non-life threatening injuries, while the suspect was fatally shot.

"There's been a lot of violence in this area. And we have taken extra steps with extra personnel to surge into the area to address the violence. This was a part of that initiative," Tuggle told reporters at the West Baltimore crime scene. “The officers were in the area for a crime suppression initiative that we’ve been running not only in this district, but in other districts,” said Tuggle. “They came upon the suspect—and I’m still waiting for additional details past that. We’re still trying to drill down on the entire situation—looking at body worn camera, other things in the area.”

Police did disclose the identity of the suspect who was killed in an alleyway in the exchange of gunfire with police. Also not identified Sunday night, was the officer who was shot. All that was given was that he was veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, and he was being treated at Shock Trauma and was in good spirits.

As for the Poppleton neighborhood, police said there was a reason why officers were out there Sunday night. “There's been a lot of violence in this area,” Tuggle said to reporters. “We have taken extra steps with extra personnel to surge into the area to address the violence. This was a part of that initiative.” Tuggle said to his knowledge, the suspect was not a target of the crime suppression initiative.

The Baltimore Sun reports two people were shot and wounded last week in the same troubled West Baltimore neighborhood.