UPDATE: The woman wielding the knife has been identified as 48-year-old Autumn Denny. She is facing assault and weapons charges.
ORIGINAL STORY:
An investigation is underway following a non-fatal police-involved shooting in Bolton Hill Monday morning.
WATCH: Police shoot knife-wielding person experiencing mental health crisis
Police were responding to a mental health crisis that was happening inside the ReNew apartments, a high rise complex along Park Avenue, before an officer fired their weapon.
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley says it was only done so after de-escalation efforts were made, and continued to be made afterward. He commended officers for how they handled the situation.
"We are a different department now," said Commissioner Worley. "In the past this might have turned out a lot different, but our officers showed the great training that they have to de-escalate a situation. Even after the individual had come at them with a knife, they still retreated and tried to de-escalate. When we release the body-worn footage, you'll see how great of a job the men and women did."
An officer responded to the scene just after 10:30 a.m. after the department received reports of an individual who was armed with a large knife and was attempting to harm people.
The officer saw the person in a bloodied hallway where the fire alarms were going off and the 48-year-old retreated into an apartment and locked the door.
They are also reported to have had an electronic device, similar to a taser.
Commissioner Worley said the officer could hear them inside the apartment, though it's unclear if they live there.
When back-up arrived, officers attempted to get them to come out of the apartment and they eventually did. But their efforts to get them to release the knife were unsuccessful at first.
They then approached the officers with the weapon still in hand, according to Commissioner Worley.
At that time, officers deployed their tasers on the individual, which had no effect, Worley said. One of the officers also deployed their firearm twice, striking the individual in the lower leg.
Despite being wounded, the individual still did not drop the knife, and officers were unable to get it.
"We retreated, gave time. You could hear the officers say they have plenty of time and they continued to negotiate," Worley explained. "Our officers did a phenomenal job during a very, very chaotic situation."
After several minutes of continued de-escalation attempts, the individual dropped the knife and officers were able to take the them into custody.
The first core principal of BPD's Use-of-Force policy is the "Sanctity of Human Life" where members are instructed to make "every effort to preserve human life in all situations."
“It’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to contain the situation without resorting to violence," Kristy, who lives in the building but was not home at the time.
“I’m glad that it seems that no human life was lost. And that’s, I think, really important, regardless of which side this person was on," she said.
Medics were already on scene and immediately provided aid to the individual before they were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Their condition is unknown at this time.
Commissioner Worley said the individual remained combative even while being transported to the hospital. Forcing the ambulance to pull over at one point because of it.
No other injuries were reported. Police say a neighbor on the floor did open their door at one point during the interaction and were told to close their door.
Mayor Brandon Scott has also viewed the body-worn camera footage, according to Commissioner Worley.
