RANDALLSTOWN, Md. — Baltimore County Police are investigating a reported police-involved shooting in Randallstown Tuesday afternoon.
Officials say officers were called to the scene of the Liberty Road Shopping Center for a report of someone shoplifting from a Dollar Tree Store at around 4:30.
They say when officers arrived, they located the suspect in the parking lot and when they approached him, he took out at least one weapon and ran across the parking lot of the shopping center to an Aldi Store.
"Just scared to death," Aldi customer Sonja Wallace said.
Wallace was inside shopping when the suspect came in, down her aisle, just a few feet from her, holding what she describes as a machete.
"In his right arm, but it was down it was down and then we kind of briefly made eye contact and I registered like, 'Oh my God. That's a machete. What's he doing in the store with a machete?'," Wallace said.
She says he walked back to the front of the store. That's when police say officers got into some kind of altercation with the suspect.
"I overheard the cop or cops say, 'Put down the weapon. Put down the weapon'," Wallace said.
"At some point, they felt threatened. The officers fired their weapons at the suspect," Cpl. Shawn Vinson, spokesman for Baltimore County Police, said.
Police say at least one officer fired their gun, hitting the man. He was transported to an area hospital for treatment of his injuries.
"He had multiple weapons. Right now we are trying to confirm what those weapons were," Vinson said.
One officer suffered minor injuries during the altercation. At this time, police do not know the condition of the suspect and it is still unknown how many shots were fired during the incident. Vinson says once they determine which officers fired their weapons, they will most likely be placed on routine administrative leave.
