Police shoot three in two separate incidents this weekend

Man killed yesterday outside Rt. 1 7-Eleven

Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009

Updated: Monday, October 19, 2009 17:10

Matt Creger

Prince George's County police officers shot and killed a man wielding two knives outside the 7-Eleven on Route 1 yesterday after the man allegedly lunged at an officer, police said.

The shooting was the third by county police in College Park since Friday.

The man, who police declined to identify, died shortly after the incident. It is unclear whether he died en route to or at a local hospital.

Cpl. Mike Rodriguez of the Prince George's County Police said the man walked into 7-Eleven around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, locked the door and called 911. The man told the dispatcher he wasn't going to leave the store and that the police would have to "do their job."

Police responded to the scene, creating a perimeter around the store. The man then came out of the 7-Eleven holding two knives and "engaged" the officer, Rodriguez said.

Police opened fire on the man, shooting him multiple times, a witness said.

All three 7-Eleven employees and all the officers were not hurt during the incident. There were no customers in the store at the time.

A K-9 unit dog who was with the officer who was attacked, suffered non-life threatening injuries during the incident. It is unclear who injured the dog.

The incident is under investigation, but Rodriguez said the incident seems to have been handled "by the book" and that the man was perceived as a threat.

"We did what we needed to do," Rodriguez said. "It looks like the officer acted appropriately. It's unfortunate the individual put himself in this situation."

Although it's early in the investigation, Rodriguez said he believes drugs or mental instability were probably factors in the deceased man's actions.

The man was described by witnesses as a shirtless white male between 40 and 50 years old with gray hair.

Junior aerospace engineering major Bill Moran was working next door at Burger King and, along with other people in the restaurant, witnessed the shooting.

"There was just a lot of shots fired," Moran said. "Everybody in here was shaken up."

Moran estimated about 15 officers surrounded the 7-Eleven.

This is the third county police shooting in the area in the past three days. On Friday, police were involved with a shooting of a man trying to rob an armored car with an automatic rifle and then barricaded himself in a house near Beltsville.

The other incident was Friday evening in front of Rugged Warehouse when an off-duty officer shot two men after confronting them about shoplifting in the parking lot. The men began to drive away, dragging the officer, when he fired into the vehicle. Both suspects are still in the hospital.

Rodriguez said it's both distressing and unusual to have so many shootings in the area in such a short period of time, but stressed that they were all separate, isolated incidents.

rhodes@umdbk.com

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Your name

Tue Oct 20 2009 10:56

no one is "another example of a racist idiot" here, race has not been mentioned once..so stop fabricating drama.

Mr. Bethesda

Mon Oct 19 2009 23:29

@ Craig. I thought that you said that all of the criminals in PG County were black. Well, this criminal was white so you've disproved your own theory. You are simply another example of a racist idiot.

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 16:55

"...an incorrect misspelling..."

How do you have an incorrect misspelling? It seems like a perfectly fine misspelling to me.

Craig

Mon Oct 19 2009 15:25

Well if they had just shot him to subdue him that means they'd have to use taxpayer dollars to keep him in prison or a mental asylum. It's really just more cost effective to shoot the nut.

Duh.

grad08

Mon Oct 19 2009 15:07

you know, i graduated from maryland's college of journalism and always thought the diamondback was a decent paper, but how do you let spelling SEPARATE wrong in the headline slide?? HELLO, is anyone using spell check over there?

Sarah

Mon Oct 19 2009 13:39

Just a small comment... "seperate" is an incorrect misspelling of "separate" in the headline. :)

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 13:06

you can ask any cop...they don't like killing people. it pains them, and haunts them. there's a reason why you have to go through a psychological evaluation after you shoot someone. i'm pretty sure they're not "showing their power" when they kill someone.. theyre protecting YOU, idiot. and since when can't knives do anything from a distance..like the other person said, its called THROWING THEM.

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 12:45

non-lethal weapons history channel

Jimbo

Mon Oct 19 2009 12:39

With all the dirtbags PG cops have to deal with, I think it is a little much to be asking them to play Psychiatrist and determine (in the heat of the moment) whether someone is a thug or a nut. Especially since most are thugs.

cop lover

Mon Oct 19 2009 12:04

an unstable man wielding 2 knifes, calling 911 and saying police would have to do their job leads to the result that happened sunday. maybe there are "too many" shootings because the people that the prince george's police deal with are more willing to use deadly force against the police, yes kids that includes driving cars at the police and dragging the police to their death. it's a war out there.

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 11:59

What about Tazers or Rubber bullets or even pepper spray that could have been used to bring the man down instead of killing him?

All the man had were knives that he cannot do much with from a distance.

A very pathetic way to show their power by killing a 40 yr old man, probably on medication or drugs.

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 11:40

i think the police knew that he was unstable. that being said, i believe that if they had the time to devise a strategy to subdue him without killing him, that they would have. but, the man had hostages and he lunged at an officer with a weapon. what the officer did was protocol and this protocol is put in place for the best interests of the police AND the community. just because the suspect did not have a gun does not mean that he could not have seriously injured or killed the officer. knives can be thrown. also, there are numerous cases of suspects who have not been incapacitated by a gunshot wound to a leg or arm and they continue to attack, which is why officers are trained to shoot at center mass. one, because it is the most accurate target because it is the largest, and it has a better probability of incapacitating the suspect. also, i rarely hear of an officer only firing a single shot. these guys are not professionaly trained snipers. they dont have the best accuracy and they are human and being such, have human reflexes. when caught in a stressful situation where someone is lunging at you with a weapon i doubt any of us would only shoot once. even though the police have training, it is not appropriate to expect them to erase innate actions from their mind. sometimes one bullet to the chest wont even stop a suspect either, its called adrenaline, and its a suspects number one defense against the police.

that being said, i think the pg police, while at times have their issues, did a commendable job. it is sad that they could not figure out how to save this guy before it was too late, but they handled the situation in the best way that they could. and, anyone that has grandiose ideas of trying to do it better...go on a ride along with the pg police, see the stuff they have to deal with everyday, hear their horror stories, THEN you can try and think about critiquing them...because you obviously have no idea what its like to be an officer.

Scott

Mon Oct 19 2009 10:49

when a man calls 911 and tells them he wants the police to kill him, couldn't the officers find some other way to subdue him than just murdering him??? rubber tipped bullet? taser? PG county police... gee whiz.

Shoot

Mon Oct 19 2009 10:48

Marco: I believe US cops are instructed to "shoot to kill". That way there is no question why he fired his gun, and why a suspect died. If shots were fired, they were meant to kill, not to incapacitate.

Your name

Mon Oct 19 2009 10:38

This sounds very much like "suicide by cop". The man couldn't bring himself to kill himself and provoked the cops into doing it for him.

marco

Mon Oct 19 2009 09:02

I am sure the officer followed the rules of engagement to the letter but in other countries police do not shoot the aggressor 'multiple times' if he/she does not have a gun. (Shoot in the leg or call in relatives/friends. Maybe not doable in the US, sadly)