Authorities say police in Frederick, Maryland, fatally shot a man with a knife during a weekend encounter after he ignored commands to drop the weapon
FREDERICK, Md. — Police in Frederick, Maryland, fatally shot a knife-wielding man after he ignored officers’ commands to drop the weapon, according to the city’s police chief and the office of the state attorney general.
Frederick Police Department officers went to an apartment around 6:20 p.m. Saturday seeking a man wanted for a parole or probation violation, Chief Jason Lando said at a news conference.
The officers entered the residence after a woman answered the door, and they found the man in a closet, Lando told local news outlets.
The three officers began speaking with the man, giving him commands to “drop the knife,” while backing away from him, according to a news release Sunday by the Independent Investigations Division of the attorney general’s office, which is probing the incident.
“The man then rapidly moved toward one of the officers with the knife held out in front of him. At that point, two of the officers discharged their firearms, striking the man,” the news release said.
The officers called for an ambulance and tried to resuscitate the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Neither the suspect nor the officers involved were immediately identified.
The attorney general’s office said all of the officers on scene were equipped with body cameras, which recorded the encounter. The footage is typically released within 14 days, the news release said.
Frederick is a city of about 80,000 people located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Washington, D.C.
