The Baltimore Police Department on Wednesday afternoon will release the body-worn camera footage of the fatal police shooting that killed a 70-year-old woman in West Baltimore in June.
On June 25, officers responded to a house on the 2700 block of Mosher Street for two calls for service. Officers found Pytorcarcha Brooks, who was allegedly wielding a knife, according to Baltimore Police.
Officers believe that Brooks was in the midst of a behavioral health crisis, and police said they ordered her to drop the knife. Brooks then lunged at the officers, and after they attempted to subdue her with a Taser, the officers opened fire at Brooks, according to a police account.
Medics took the woman to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police later said the department had received 26 calls sending them to her home “for a multitude of different things” since the beginning of the year, according to a BPD spokesperson.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which is tasked with probing fatal police encounters in the state, is investigating the shooting. Anyone with information about the incident can contact the IID at 410-576-7070 or by email at IID@oag.state.md.us.
At that time, it was the second fatal police shooting in the city in about a week. Footage of the death of a man in BPD custody the day before Brooks’ death has yet to be released by the IID, which typically releases footage of incidents under investigation within 10 days.
Have a news tip? Contact Mathew Schumer at mschumer@baltsun.com, 443-890-7423 and on X as @mmmschumer.
