By Kevin Rector
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE - Baltimore Police on Tuesday identified the armed robbery suspect fatally shot by a city police officer as he exited a 7-Eleven store he had robbed early Monday morning as 20-year-old Eric Garrison.
Garrison lived in the 3400 block of White Ave., in the city’s Glenham-Belhar neighborhood, police said.
Police also identified the officer who shot Garrison as Officer Kevin Amy, a 17-year veteran of the force assigned to patrol in the Northeast District.
The shooting occurred just before 3 a.m. Monday at the 7-Eleven on the corner of Harford Road and Glenmore Avenue in the city’s Westfield neighborhood, near Hamilton.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis on Monday afternoon said that, based on a review of store surveillance and officer body-camera footage, Amy had done “a great, great job” and showed “presence of mind and grace under pressure.”
https://www.facebook.com/CBSBaltimore/videos/10155266201823477/
Amy activated his body-camera just after the shooting, which caused the camera to automatically retain a 30-second running loop of footage that included the shooting.
That footage, and surveillance footage from the store, showed Garrison running out of the store with a shotgun in hand just after Amy had pulled up out front, and Amy getting out of his vehicle and firing on Garrison.
At the time, Garrison appeared to have the gun mostly at his side, pointed toward the ground, though police suggested it had been directed toward Amy.
T.J. Smith, a police spokesman, said Amy had just watched Garrison rob the store clerk at gunpoint, and “could have been blasted at basically point-blank range with a shotgun” himself if he had hesitated.
“These are the split-second decisions that officers are forced to deal with,” Smith said.
Garrison had been released on his own recognizance on burglary and drug possession charges on Sept. 30, and was due in court in that case Oct. 31, according to court records.
In April 2015, he had armed robbery and other charges stemming from an incident in December 2014 — when he was three months shy of turning 18 — remanded to juvenile court, according to court records.
Garrison’s family could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Garrison’s shooting is not the first time Amy has opened fire on someone with a shotgun and been applauded for it by police commanders.
In 2015, Amy was awarded the police department’s prestigious Medal of Honor for an incident in which he fired at a suspect he witnessed shoot another person in the leg and groin with a shotgun, according to a police account of the incident.
“To protect himself and the victim, Officer Amy fired his weapon at the suspect, who was still attempting to cause harm,” the department wrote in its Medal Day 2015 booklet. “The suspect retreated and eventually surrendered due to the actions of Officer Amy.”
The department did not immediately answer questions about the incident on Tuesday.
©2017 The Baltimore Sun