A Baltimore City police officer was accidentally shot in the arm by another officer yesterday while serving a warrant in Odenton, police said.
The officers were part of a regional task force investigating possible drug activity at a townhouse in the 100 block of Pinecove Avenue, said Anne Arundel County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy. He did not release the names of the two officers involved.
Task force members went to the home with a search-and-seizure warrant and encountered 38-year-old Vernon Andre Jackson of Columbia outside, Mulcahy said. Jackson was arrested without incident on drug charges.
Police went inside, where they found 27 pounds of suspected marijuana. They spoke with an unidentified woman, Mulcahy said. Neighbors said the woman is Jackson's mother, who lives at the house.
While they were inside, a Baltimore County officer's gun discharged, striking the Baltimore City officer in the arm, Mulcahy said. The officer was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with injuries that weren't considered life-threatening.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Baltimore City police spokesman, said the bullet passed through the officer's arm.
Police are treating the incident as an accidental shooting.
Mulcahy didn't have any more information about the circumstances of the shooting.
Neighbors gathered in groups around the neighborhood just west of Town Center Boulevard Monday afternoon. Police blocked off a portion of the neighborhood with crime scene tape.
Chuck McMillan heard the gunshot and the officer's scream from his townhouse nearby. He then watched officers bring the wounded man outside and sit him down.
McMillan and other neighbors had no idea drug activity was taking place at the house.
"We're all very surprised," said neighbor Dianne Durity.
"It's normally really quiet around here," neighbor Beth Brickey said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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