WASHINGTON — Authorities say a police officer unintentionally shot a man who was in a grocery store that had been burglarized Sunday night.
Laurel city spokeswoman Audrey Barnes said Monday that officers responded to a burglar alarm at Indus Food International Market around 11:20 p.m.
She says police saw a 15-year-old boy fleeing the building. Barnes said the teen refused police commands to stop, and an officer deployed a Taser.
The boy was taken to a hospital, and was later released to his mother.
Barnes said officers were checking the building when one officer, who was holding his service weapon, saw movement in the dark. The spokeswoman says the officer was moving his gun from one hand to the other when it discharged and hit a 20-year-old man inside.
The man was in stable condition in a hospital. The officer, a 17-year veteran, is on paid administrative leave.
No officers were injured.
Police say this is the third burglary, or attempted burglary, of the market since November 2015 when thieves broke in and stole $5,000. The store was burglarized again in December and the thieves stole $8,000.
Detectives are working to determine if all three of these burglaries could be related.
Barnes said this is the department’s first police-involved shooting since 2003.
Below is a map of where the market is located.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
