BALTIMORE — Newly released body camera footage shows three Baltimore police officers firing a barrage of gunfire at a fleeing teenage suspect almost immediately after seeing a weapon in his hand.
William Gardner, 17, was shot a dozen times, officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon when they released the footage. He was pronounced dead at the scene Monday evening.
The shooting led to indignation of residents of Gardner’s southwest Baltimore neighborhood who questioned the officers’ reasoning. While acknowledging that officers have a difficult and dangerous job, critics say it was unnecessary for police to kill the teen over an illegal gun, calling it the latest instance of excessive force against a young black man.
Baltimore police leaders said Gardner pointed his gun at officers just before he was killed. However, body camera footage did not make it clear whether he was aiming at officers or threatening them with the gun before they opened fire.
The video clearly shows a gun in Gardner’s right hand, but the situation escalated so quickly that it’s unclear what exactly the officers were responding to when they started shooting.
Police Commissioner Richard Worley called the shooting “a truly tragic incident” and stressed that the department is conducting a thorough investigation. He did not immediately praise the officers’ actions, as he has sometimes done after other recent police shootings.
Worley said it was too early to say whether the officers used excessive force, but he noted they were chasing someone who was “clearly armed” and warned him several times to drop his weapon.
“We recognize that any use of force by law enforcement lends itself to a high level of public scrutiny. And so we take those concerns very seriously and we are committed to continuing conversations with the community,” he said at the start of Friday’s news conference. “We don’t have all the answers today because we’re only a few days into the investigation.”
Officials said officers from the department’s Group Violence Unit were patrolling that part of southwest Baltimore because they had received a report of weapons being fired about an hour earlier. The area has also seen a recent increase in shootings and robberies, but Worley said he understood the officers weren’t specifically looking for Gardner; they were simply patrolling the area.
They drove past a group of people gathered on the sidewalk and saw Gardner grab his waistband, officials said. He began to walk away from the group as an officer tried to approach him on foot. He began to run, and the officer chased after him. Three other officers were following him.
The bodycam footage does not show that initial interaction. Officials said the officers did not have their cameras turned on because they were just driving around, per department policy. The video begins during the chase.
Two officers can be seen shouting at Gardner as he runs alongside their moving vehicle, repeatedly ordering him to “get on the ground” or “you’ll be shot.”
“I’ll shoot you,” a cop shouts.
Those officers appear to open fire immediately after stopping their vehicle. Moments earlier, another officer had approached Gardner on foot and apparently attempted to grab him. That officer also opens fire as Gardner appears to raise his weapon and turn toward the approaching police vehicle.
The officers fired up to 21 shots, officials said. No one was injured. They have been placed on administrative duties pending the results of the investigation.
Gardner did not fire his gun, but authorities said it was loaded.
The shooting follows two others which unfolded under similar circumstances last year in Baltimore. All three encounters escalated quickly, starting when officers saw someone on the street and thought they might be armed.
Police shootings in other cities in recent years have raised similar questions, with prosecutors, courts and the public wondering when an officer should use any means to stop a fleeing suspect.
The Baltimore Police Department has implemented a series of reforms in recent years following the 2015 attacks. death of Freddie Gray put the agency in an unwelcome spotlight. Much of the effort has been focused on rebuilding public trust, but residents of the city’s predominantly black communities often complain that little has changed.
According to neighbors, Gardner was a well-known face in the neighborhood, who sometimes found work at a nearby grocery store.
His loved ones set up a makeshift memorial, leaving handwritten messages on the corner where he died. They used tea lights to spell out his name and decorated a street sign with streamers and balloons.