BALTIMORE _ A police sergeant was shot in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday after being attacked by two young males, according to police and a woman who said she witnessed the incident.
The shooting happened in the Frankford section Thursday afternoon, and the sergeant was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Latoya Pearson, 39, said she saw two young males approach the sergeant, who was not in uniform. They began fighting before at least one of the men fired at the officer.
"The cop was outside, two other people came up to him," she said. The two males scuffled with the officer and got him onto the ground, she said.
"They was kicking him and they started shooting him," she said.
Pearson said she watched as the males tried to take something _ possibly a wallet or cellphone from the officer. She said the men then fled and she attempted to comfort the officer until an ambulance arrived.
"I just kept telling him he was going to be OK," she said.
An ambulance arrived "immediately," she said. Pearson said the officer appeared to be conscious when she spoke to him.
Police have not yet released information about the officer's condition.
Amanda Hils, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said that agency's Baltimore field division is assisting Baltimore Police in the investigation, but referred all other questions to police. Dave Fitz, an FBI Baltimore spokesman, said his agency is also assisting.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, the union that represents rank-and-file city police officers, said First Vice President Ken Butler and Sgt. William MacDonald were heading to Shock Trauma to offer support to the injured sergeant.
This is the second shooting of a police officer in Baltimore in the past month, after Sgt. Bill Shiflett was injured by a gunman who also killed David Caldwell, 52, an employee at a methadone clinic on Maryland Avenue on July 15.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan asked for prayers for the officer "as he fights for his life."
But in a statement, Hogan added, "thoughts and prayers alone are not enough. We have been pushing to get these violent shooters off the streets. Now is the time for city and legislative leaders to finally join us and support our efforts."
The Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, which recently held a news conference discussing increased collaboration with the Police Department, tweeted about the shooting.
"Please, put down the guns. You may save a life, including your own," the tweet said.
The office recently announced indictments against 90 defendants on gun and drug charges. Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert Hur said last week that the cases represent a coordinated effort between federal prosecutors and Baltimore Police to address the city's violence.
