Posted on 01/31/25
| News Source: WBAL TV
Baltimore, MD - Jan. 31, 2025 - The North Avenue District Courthouse in Baltimore is closed Friday after a shooting.
North Avenue and Hartford Road are closed. Officials ask the public to avoid the area.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said a 35-year-old man entered the Eastside District Court on North Avenue in Baltimore around 8:40 a.m. Friday.
"As he went into the courthouse, he was clearly suffering from behavioral crisis, he was walking back and forth," Worley said. "Sheriff's deputies and the bailiffs tried to interact with him. At some point, he withdrew a firearm from his body, pointed it at his head. The deputies tried to get him to drop his weapon."
Worley said a bailiff is preliminarily believed to have fired two shots, striking the man in the lower extremities. The man fired a shot to his head. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.
The only person shot was the armed man.
The bailiff is a retired BPD member.
"This, of course, is a tragic situation. I want to thank all the law enforcement involved," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. "This again shows behavior and mental health is a real and deep issue. We have to make sure that people who are having this kind of issues don't have that easy access to firearms and weapons."
Worley said the attorney general's office is responding to investigate.