Police: Trooper kills knife-wielding man at gas station

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) – A state trooper fatally shot a man in a confrontation Monday after the stolen sport utility vehicle the man was driving rammed a police cruiser at a gas station, police said.

A large knife was found in the man’s possession after he was shot, and police said witnesses reported that the man took his hand out of his pocket and lunged at the trooper before the trooper opened fire.

The encounter Monday morning at a Sheetz gas station in Frederick began when the trooper noticed a Lincoln Navigator with expired tags, police said. The trooper learned that the SUV had been stolen in an armed robbery Sunday night in Baltimore, police said.

The trooper requested backup and Trooper First Class William Jansen, who is stationed at the agency’s nearby aviation command, was among those who responded, police said.

When troopers approached the man with their emergency lights on, the man got into the SUV, accelerated toward the street and rammed a Frederick police officer’s cruiser, state police spokesman Greg Shipley said. The cruiser was pushed over a curb and the officer was pinned inside, police said.

The man then got out of the SUV, and according to witness accounts cited by police, he refused to show his hands before he quickly lunged at Jansen, who opened fire. Jansen, a paramedic, administered care, but the man died at the scene, police said.

Police recovered a large folding knife from the man, whose identity had not been determined as of late Monday afternoon. Police said they could not confirm whether the man was involved in the theft of the SUV. Police also found drugs, cash and a driver’s license of a man who was shot in Baltimore this summer in the man’s possession.

Jansen, who is white, has been placed on routine administrative leave. The man he shot was black, police said. Race has not been raised as a factor in the shooting.

The Frederick officer was taken to a hospital. None of the troopers or anyone at the gas station was injured.

The shooting is under investigation, and police said they would present their findings to the Frederick County state’s attorney for review. State police internal affairs detectives are also investigating.

Dominic Rosso, who works at a doughnut shop across the street, said he heard the collision, followed by four shots. He said that when he looked outside, “the whole Sheetz lot was crawling with cop cars.”