Baltimore City Police released video of the police shooting last week that injured a 17-year-old suspect that police say was armed.
While we do not have all of the answers today, less than a week into this investigation, our department is committed to doing a thorough, transparent and extensive investigation alongside our state’s attorney’s office,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison.
The video shows the initial encounter with the teenager as well as the foot chase. The police department paused the video a couple of times, once to highlight what police say was the gun in the teenager hand and a second time to show, what they say, is the teenager turning toward the officer with the weapon.
Police have identified the gun as a Smith & Wesson 9mm. Harrison said the gun was stolen in 2021.
The shooting happened on May 11. That afternoon, police say they saw a person displaying “characteristics of an armed person” in the 2500 block of McHenry Street. Officers chased the teenager to the 300 block of South Catherine Street, according to police. Police say the teenager refused multiple commands to drop the weapon before officers opened fire.
Police have identified the officer asDetective Cedrick Elleby, who has been on the force since 2019. Det. Elleby is on administrative leave, according to the police
Police say the teenager was armed with a handgun that had an extended magazine. The teenager, identified by family members and Mehki, lost several organs as a result of the shooting.
Harrison said that a combination of factors may have led Det. Elleby to believe that Mehki was armed and that those factors are taught in training. Some of those indicators include, “particular bulges. The way the person stands or swings their arms or the shift in body stance. It is the way they adjust their arms to either keep the firearm from falling through thier waistline or to support it and keep it up. Then, there’s sometimes fidgeting – we’ll see someone fidgeting with something that’s not in a pocket,” said Harrison.
