Man Dead After Exchanging Gunfire with Baltimore Officers

No officers were wounded nor anyone else in the shooting Thursday night in a neighborhood on the city's west side, police spokesman T.J. Smith said. He added that it wasn't immediately clear why the man had begun shooting.

Four plainclothes officers riding in an unmarked car heard gunfire coming from the building about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Smith said at a news briefing. The officers drove toward the sound and when they arrived, they saw a man shooting an AR-15-style weapon, according to Smith.

Smith said the man started firing toward the officers, and two returned fire.

The suspect was shot at least once and retreated to the apartment building, according to the spokesman. He didn't immediate identify the officers, the man or the races of those involved but held up a picture of what he said was the rifle recovered afterward.

The shooting comes a week after police shootings of two black men, one in Louisiana and the other in Minnesota, stoked outrage among many in the African-American community and protests around the country. Tensions also were heightened in the US by last week's killing of five police officers in Dallas by a black gunman.

Smith said the early shooting scene was chaotic as officers drove toward the sound of the gunfire.

Officers, who Smith said initially thought there might have been more than one suspect involved, surrounded the building and searched the area. He said authorities found the gun in a tree line just behind the apartment complex and the suspect inside on the second level with at least one bullet wound to his upper body.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Smith said.

He said police still had many questions so early in the investigation Friday.

"We don't have a victim ... No one has come forward and said, 'Hey, I was being shot at,'" he said.