A police officer fatally shot a man in Riverdale Park, Maryland, on Monday after officers responded to a report of a suicidal man with access to guns and the man pointed a gun at officers, authorities say.
The man’s name was not immediately released.
Officers with the Riverdale Park Police Department responded to a home in the 4700 block of Oglethorpe Street at about 3:30 p.m. after a report of “a suicidal man who had access to firearms,” the Maryland Office of the Attorney General said in a statement Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear who called police.
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Officers spoke with the man, 75-year-old Bryan Coupal, for several minutes at the front door, and he “retreated” inside, the attorney general’s office said. Officers followed him and ordered him to stop, but he did not comply.
In an upstairs bedroom, Coupal pointed a handgun at officers, the attorney general’s office said.
One officer opened fire, hitting Coupal.
"Shots fired! Shots fired!" an official can be heard saying on a dispatch call.
Officers treated Coupal until medics arrived and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Independent Investigations Division of the attorney general’s office is investigating. Riverdale Park Police directed questions about the shooting to that office.
A crisis intervention unit was dispatched to the home but arrived shortly after the officer opened fire, according to Thomas Lester of the Independent Investigations Division.
He said officials are still piecing together the moments before the shooting.
"Our main thing is just to make sure that the officers acted in accordance to the law, so, we review as much evidence that we’re able to collect from the scene, from forensics to witness interviews to body cam,” Lester said.
The officer who shot the man, Officer Chad Sunday, was wearing an activated body camera. Police body camera footage is generally released within 14 days.
Sunday has been with Riverdale Park police for two years and has 12 years of law-enforcement experience.
A neighbor described Coupal as friendly.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
