An unarmed black man who said he wanted to commit suicide was shot and killed by Baltimore County police Thursday morning after they responded to a domestic violence call.
Officers shot and killed 41-year-old Spencer Lee McCain because they thought he had a weapon , even though he hadn’t fired on them, according to ABC News .
While police were on the way to his house, McCain told his girlfriend’s mother he was going to commit suicide. His girlfriend, Shannon Sulton, who told police he beat her and threatened her, was also at the home. She showed injuries including cuts, bruises and swelling above her eyes.
Two of the three officers involved in the shooting death are white and one is black. They’ve all been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
Rochelle Byrd, the girlfriend’s mother, called police after she received a call from her 10-year-old granddaughter early Thursday morning about her parents arguing in the bedroom. McCain, however, didn’t live at the home and had a restraining order against him.
McCain grabbed the phone and told Byrd he was going to commit suicide, so she called officers back, telling them McCain could kill himself and his family.
When officers arrived on the scene, they heard screaming from inside the home and forced their way inside where they found McCain in a defensive posture as if he was preparing to fire a weapon , according to the Baltimore Sun .
All three officers fired on McCain. After the shooting 19 shell casings were found. No weapon has been found.
McCain was taken to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, where he died at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Officers had previously been called to the home 17 times since 2012 for domestic violence and fighting.
Before the shooting, Sulton took out a restraining order against McCain, barring him from visiting the home or from possessing a gun.
Baltimore County Police Chief Jim Johnson told the Baltimore Sun that the department doesn’t release the names of officers involved in shootings for 48 hours.
“In the hours and days ahead, we’ll learn more and in greater detail about what the officers knew, thought and perceived in every moment that transpired.”
Although no one has raised race as a factor, the shooting in Owings Mills, Maryland. follows a string of shootings in Ferguson, Cleveland, New York, and again in Baltimore. Owings Mills is about 20 miles from Baltimore.
[Photo by Michael B. Thomas /Getty Images]
