Posted on 04/11/2011 8:54:46 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(HAMPSTEAD, MD) – A Carroll County woman armed with a handgun and threatening suicide was fatally shot by a Maryland state trooper Monday evening after she refused repeated orders to surrender and pointing the weapon in the direction of police on the scene.
According to reports, troopers from the Westminster Barrack were called to the 4600-block of Upper Beckleysville Road, Hampstead, Md at about 5:40 p.m. today for a domestic situation between the 40-year-old woman and her sister, with whom she lived. While en route to the scene, a second call was received informing troopers the woman had armed herself with a handgun and was threatening suicide. The woman's sister reported she and her teenage daughter had locked themselves in an upstairs bathroom.
Two State troopers, a Hampstead Police officer and a Carroll County deputy sheriff arrived at the two-story home shortly before 6:00 p.m. and purportedly observed a woman moving between upstairs and downstairs windows repeatedly pointing the gun at the police outside the home. The woman refused repeated commands to drop the weapon and continued to point the gun in the direction of police. Presumably in fear for his life, one of the troopers fired his Department-issued .40 caliber pistol, fatally wounding the woman.
The woman was flown by Maryland State Police medevac helicopter to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center where she was pronounced dead.
The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit, Westminster Barrack Criminal Investigation Section, Internal Affairs Unit, and crime scene technicians from the State Police Forensic Sciences Division are continuing the investigation and are expected to remain at the scene until the early morning hours on Tuesday.
Police are withholding the identities of the woman and the trooper until family members have been notified and the preliminary on scene investigation is completed.
“Suicide by cop.” Know a cop this happened to.
Suicide by Cop.
Cowardly bitch.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I’ve known a lot of cops put into that situation.
It is the cowards way out, one that unleashes a hell for servants of the law who follow their training and shoot to live.
Now they are treated as the “suspects” and subjected to the vicious court of public opinion.
He may have also been wondering about the fate of the sister/neice. Combine that with self-concern and that’s a pretty lethal conclusion.
RIP, victim.
Roger that.
Forgot to add in my first post that the hell is also unleashed onto the officers’ families. It can be very hard on a marriage.
Loaded or unloaded, don’t point guns at the Police. They will shoot you, and rightly so!
Naught else could be done.
Weird..
It sounds like the woman was observed moving around in the house for some time. I wonder how the trooper was caught by surprise in a position where he was not behind cover?
another trigger finger "I got the right" policeman....
not buying it that she needed to be put down like a dog...not buying it...
People who are suicidal are that way because they are mentally ill. It is hard on the cop, but you often can’t blame the person for it.
The person who called the police is now going to be plagued with nightmares - you are told to call 911 in such emergencies, but you don’t expect to end up with your family member getting shot. You think you are reaching our properly for help. It’s horrid for everyone.
The victim was a nurse's assistant at the local hospital and had just moved into the house a few weeks ago. So far as anyone can tell, she'd never met her killer.
The old saying, call 911 and die is true in more than one way. Someone called in good faith to get help for this woman. The responders bring guns and itchy trigger fingers.
Far too many folks ending up dead, blamed on suicide by cop.
Yes, let’s just place the officer and the woman’s two family members in jeopardy just so that we can see if she can shoot someone after a little mace is tried - NOT. The officer IMHO did his job. If you don’t want to be shot by police, then do NOT point a gun at them.
Hmmmm...well. they did prevent a suicide.
And a few murders along the way. A lot of suicidal people seem to like to take a few people with them before they off themselves.
I called the cops years ago for help in getting my extremely mentally ill husband to the hospital, and ended up having to get him out of jail, by hiring a lawyer I couldn’t afford.
That morning I got him to the hospital, and he ended up in there for almost three months - the arrest and lack of meds during jail caused a lot more damage,
It also set social services loose on me (the kids)
This was a problem the family and his doctors were handling, and then the government stepped in. They handled it with all the aplomb, deftness and ability they are noted for. Ha.
The lawyer told me after NEVER call 911 if you need an ambulance again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.