A Prince George’s County police officer fatally shot a man during a struggle in Landover on Monday night after first unsuccessfully trying to use a Taser to subdue him.
Police identified the man as 26-year-old Michael Anthony Bailey Jr. of the 1800 block of Gould Drive in District Heights. Officials said Tuesday that a loaded gun, a vial of what police believe to be PCP and a ski mask were found in Mr. Bailey’s possession.
The officer, who has not been identified, encountered Mr. Bailey around 7 p.m. Monday while on patrol around FedEx Field near the Capital Beltway. He saw three men hanging out on an access road behind the stadium — an area drug users are known to frequent, county police spokeswoman Julie Parker said.
“He was going on his gut in a high-crime area,” she said.
The officer tried to talk to the group, but the men ran away. As the officer, a three-year department veteran, pursued the men, he caught up to Mr. Bailey and tried to use an electric-shock Taser to stop him.
“The suspect was able to remove the Taser prongs and continued running,” Ms. Parker said. “It’s fairly unusual for someone to be able to pull out the prongs of the Taser.”
The officer was able to catch Mr. Bailey again and the two struggled, at which point police said Mr. Bailey reached for a handgun in the waistband of his pants.
Police said the officer fired his gun twice, killing Mr. Bailey. The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is being investigated.
As of Tuesday, police had no further information on the whereabouts of the two men the officer initially tried to stop. Officials could not confirm whether Mr. Bailey was under the influence of drugs at the time of the shooting.
In 2008, Mr. Bailey was charged but found not guilty of first-degree murder in a fatal shooting that occurred in a neighborhood near FedEx Field, according to police and Maryland court records. More recently he faced charges of possession of a controlled and dangerous substance. He was scheduled to be in Prince George’s County District Court on Thursday for trial in that case.
The case is the county’s third officer-involved shooting this year but the first in which someone was killed, police said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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