PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Maryland — The gunshot that struck a police officer in Maryland this week was “deliberately aimed at him by another police officer,” a chief said Wednesday.
It was previously known that Officer First Class Jacai Colson had been killed by friendly fire.
“The shot that struck and killed Detective Colson was deliberately aimed at him by another police officer. It’s another tragic dimension to this unfolding story,” Prince George’s County police Chief Hank Stawinski told reporters.
He stressed how chaotic the situation was and that he does not believe any malice was involved on the part of the officer who fired the weapon.
The chief stopped short of speculating what that officer may have believed about Colson in the moment.
Colson was in plain clothes with no bulletproof vest when he jumped out of his unmarked car Sunday to confront a gunman outside of a police station. Three other officers returned fire.
“The environment was incredible chaotic. We had officers under fire immediately, trying to seek cover,” Stawinski said.
“There’s no intention, as I have seen the facts and as they have been explained to me, to indicate any malice or anything along those lines.”
