Something strange is going on here. There are important details not reported.
No matter, I’m glad the officer is alive. The rah-rah part of these stories bothers me. If the bullet was anything but a graze, odds are this officer will never patrol again.
City officer shot by gunman who was hiding in bushes
By Ruma Kumar
12:06 PM EST, March 8, 2008
A rookie Baltimore police officer is recovering and in good condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center this morning after he was shot in the leg around 1 a.m. in Southwest Baltimore, police said.
Officer Pedro Perez, 24, who graduated from the police academy in July, was injured during a patrol stop in the 100 block of Palormo Ave., Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said at a press conference today. Perez and his partner had stopped to talk to two men loitering in an area where criminal activity is rampant when a gunman jumped from behind some bushes and shot at the officers.
At least three shots were fired, Bealefeld said, and one hit Perez above his right knee. Bealefeld said police are following a number of “good leads” and do not believe there is a link between the unidentified gunman and the two men the officers were talking to at the time of the shooting. The two have been held for questioning, but are considered “more witnesses than suspects at this point,” Bealefeld said.
“This definitely reinforces the dangerous nature of the work these police officers do, and (shows) that more work needs to be done,” Bealefeld said today.
Saying Perez is with his family, Bealefeld added, “this man is in excellent spirits…he’s eager to get back.”
Police did not release a description of the gunman.
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun