A police officer shot a man wielding a knife in Waldorf, Md. Wednesday night after police say the man moved toward officers and a witness says the shooting victim raised his hands in the air.
"He wasn't nowhere near them, and he was standing still and he had both hands in the air and a knife threatening to kill himself," the shooting victim's girlfriend told News4's Shomari Stone.
The man, 49, threatened to stab himself once police arrived, the woman said, noting he was intoxicated.
Police say the man assaulted the woman, but she denied that.
Charles County officers were called to the 3000 block of Charleton Court about 6:45 p.m. for a report of a domestic incident, police said. As they rushed to the scene, the incident was upgraded to an aggravated assault.
A man with a knife who "appeared agitated" confronted officers in the driveway of a home, police said. Officers ordered him to drop the weapon, but he refused, according to police.
"The suspect moved toward one of the officers who, fearing for his life, discharged the firearm, striking the suspect at least once in the abdomen," police said in an update late Wednesday.
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The crisis began when the man and woman began to argue, the woman said. She locked him out of the house, but he broke down the door. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, she told News4. As the man threatened to kill himself, the woman's teenage daughter called police.
"I'm depressed, I'm scared, I'm worried, I'm hoping that he's OK," the shooting victim's girlfriend of 14 years said.
The man was flown to a hospital and was alert and conscious, police said. Assault charges against him are pending.
The officer who shot him, a nine-year veteran of the force, has been assigned to patrol duty, police said. No officers were injured.
The shooting victim was charged in March with assault and resisting arrest, court records show.
The investigation is ongoing.
