WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) — Maryland State Police said a trooper shot and killed a man who stabbed him during a struggle Monday.
The trooper was released from a shock trauma center several hours after the shooting in Westminster, about 36 miles northwest of Baltimore, police said. The trooper will be on administrative leave, a standard procedure, while he recovers from his wound.
Michael J. D’Angelo, the 34-year-old Westminster man suspected of stabbing the trooper, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.
The trooper encountered the suspect around 8 a.m. after responding to two reports of slashed car tires. One of the callers said the suspect was armed with a knife, police said. The suspect stabbed the trooper in the side of his body during a struggle, before the trooper shot him, according to police. A knife was recovered from the scene, police said.
“A motive for the suspect’s actions remains unknown at this time,” the police statement says.
Police don’t believe troopers from the local State Police barrack had any prior contact with D’Angelo before Monday.
State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said the suspect was white, and so is the wounded trooper.
Police are reviewing video from nearby buildings, he said. The trooper did not have a body-worn camera and Shipley said he didn’t know if the trooper had a dashboard camera.
The trooper is a six-year State Police veteran.