By Justin Fenton
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — A Baltimore Police officer was ambushed and shot while sitting in a patrol vehicle early Thursday in Curtis Bay, the police commissioner said.
At a briefing outside Maryland Shock Trauma, Dr. Thomas Scalea said the officer was shot multiple times and was in critical condition and on life support.
Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the officer was on-duty but not responding to a call around 1:30 a.m. in the 4400 block of Pennington Ave. when the shooter approached from behind and opened fire. It was not clear how that information had been gleaned.
“We have a coward on the loose in Baltimore that we must and will find,” Mayor Brandon Scott said.
The officer, who was not identified by name or even gender, was found by other officers after their vehicle accelerated and crashed. A video posted to social media of the apparent aftermath showed a patrol car on a playground at Curtis Bay Park.
Harrison said police had little information and were pleading with the public for help.
He said that he and Scott had met with the officer’s family, “who are, like us, obviously angry, confused, in search of answers, and have an expectation that we will find who did this and hold one or as many people responsible for this as possible,” Harrison said.
Officials pleaded with members of the public to provide tips.
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“We don’t give a damn how we get it,” Scott said.
Council President Nick Mosby pointed to a broader picture.
“There’s been a lot of divisive talk over the past several years around police, around connecting with our community, around violence. But tonight, this is reality,” Mosby said. “The reality is, men and women do their best job to put on Baltimore Police Department uniforms and go to protect our citizens. ... We should all take this very personally.
“I ask the citizens of Baltimore, if you do not have information [that could solve the case], to just pray.”
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