BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Baltimore Police Department is continuing to search for a suspect after one of their officers was shot in west Baltimore Wednesday afternoon.

A shelter-in-place order is in effect which means no one is coming into the neighborhood and no one is coming out until everything is cleared out.

Early Thursday morning, police were using megaphones at the scene trying to track down the shooter.

A $64,000 reward is now being offered for the identification of the suspect involved in the shooting.

Correction: Reward stands at $64,000 which includes $4,000 from @MCSMaryland. Text tips 443-902-4824, call 1-866-7LOCKUP, Dets 410-396-2100. pic.twitter.com/udlNHZSLlV — T.J. Smith (@TJSmithMedia) November 16, 2017

Police say another officer loaded the injured officer into a cruiser and start driving towards Shock Trauma, but an ambulance met them in between, and transferred the victim to the ER.

The chief physician at Shock Trauma said the officer is in grave condition and on full life support.

“He’s really, really really sick. We are doing everything we can to keep him stabilized to take care of the injury to his brain,” Dr. Thomas Scalea said. “He is well known to us. He’s a friend, he’s a colleague and sadly now he’s a patient.”

Police will not identify the injured officer at this time, but say the officer is a 18-year veteran of the force and was shot in the head. He is also a father of two.

One of our officers was shot this evening. Please say an extra prayer for the officer and the officer’s family. We’ll update soon. Thank you. — Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) November 15, 2017

Police say the shooting happened in 900 block of Bennett Place around 5 p.m. There is a large police presence in the area as officers search for the suspect.

Rick Johnson says he was nearby when the gunfire erupted.

“Four quick shots, clack, clack, clack, clack. Next thing you know every police officer in the western district showed up,” Johnson said.

ATF special agents are on scene to assist with the search.

“They’re human being like we are and they got a dangerous job everyday to protect lives and saves lives,” said Vance Winegan of West Baltimore.

“It’s scary because these are people that we actually look up to to protect us from dangerous people,” said neighbor Michele Stabley. “And to hear that they’re in harm’s way is an automatic shock to me.”

“My heart and my prayers go out to this detective’s family,” said city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby. “He deserved to come home tonight and because of the act of cowardice, he’s not.”



No further details have been released at this time.

We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.

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