Montgomery County police officers shot a man after 911 received a distress call from a family member, according to police.
Police say a man called 911 late Wednesday night to say his brother was paranoid and was threatening his mother with a gun inside an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland. The caller was able to jump out a window, police said.
According to dispatch recordings, the man who was paranoid remained inside with his mother. After hours of negotiation, the SWAT team moved in, and the confrontation ended with police shooting and killing that man.
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A SWAT team was called to the scene, police said. Police initially said it was the mother who had first called 911, but later said it was a brother of the man.
As police were racing to the scene in the 3300 block of Hampton Point Drive in Silver Spring, there was some confusion over whether shots had already been fired before they arrived about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday. According to dispatch, the caller said he heard two gunshots from inside. But a dispatcher also said they had an officer on the phone with the man's mother and they had no information to believe she had been shot.
After hours of negotiations from outside the apartment, police decided to go inside, and an officer shot the man, police said.
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Emergency responders took the man to a hospital, where he died, police said.
According to a spokesperson for the Maryland Independent Investigations Division (IID), which investigates most police shootings in the state, something happened during negotiations that caused the SWAT team to feel they needed to get inside fast. Thomas Lester with the IID said it was not yet known why the SWAT team decided it had to make a move.
"We do know that the officers who made entry into the home this morning were equipped with body-worn cameras," Lester said. "That footage will be reviewed by our office and ultimately released to the public at a later time."
Lester would not disclose what may have forced a member of the SWAT team to open fire but said a gun was recovered on the scene.
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Across the street, neighbor Bianca Johnson was asleep in bed with her toddler daughter when she heard gunshots.
"I know what gunshots sound like, and so my first reaction was to secure her and get down because my bed is right near a window," Johnson said.
Lashon Mack, another neighbor, also heard the shots.
"It's devastating," Mack said. "I thought it was in my building at first."
Two family members showed up at the scene around midday and briefly spoke with police. They declined to comment to News4.
By Monday, the attorney general's office is expected to release the name of the man who died, as well as the name of the officer who shot him.
"It's just, it's sad," Johnson said. "I am a big advocate for mental health. I do understand that police have a job to do. But I just hate that another life was lost."
